Fianna Fáil has been defeated in its latest attempt to have the Attorney General called before the Seanad.

The Public Accounts Committee is set to write to the Gardaí and the Irish Prisons Service asking for information about their phone recording systems.

A Cabinet Minister says there is "absolutely no suggestion" that any of the Garda Tapes have been intentionally destroyed.

The Transport Minister Leo Varadkar says the Investigation into the Garda phone recordings will work out whether or not members of the force wanted the recordings to be destroyed.

Prison director general Michael Donnellan said he is “embarrassed” by the recording of phone calls between 139 prisoners currently in custody and their solicitors.

The Taoiseach has led condemnations of the hoax chemical weapon sent to the home of Justice Minister Alan Shatter and the hate mail sent to his officials in the Department of Justice.

Enda Kenny has admitted he “should have been told” about a letter former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan sent to the Department of Justice warning about the Garda bugging scandal.

The Taoiseach is being urged to ensure the phone bugging inquiry examines the resignation of the Garda commissioner as well as the management of correspondence in the Department of Justice.

The Tánaiste was talking about health care when he said: “We all want to stay alive”, but he could easily have been referring to the badly wounded Coalition.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s revelations that Justice Minister Alan Shatter had been the victim of an anti-Semitic postal attack were “not relevant” to the no confidence debate into his conduct, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Niall Collins told the Dáil.

The Government has been accused of sacking former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan on a “trumped-up charge” in a bid to protect embattled Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Claims that Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan was forced from office should be investigated by the high-level probe into the bugging scandal, the Oireachtas Justice Committee has told the Taoiseach.

For decades, the whistleblower within Irish society has been vital in uncovering misbehaviour in institutions as varied as the Catholic Church, the Oireachtas, the banks and the Garda Siochána.

The Government has tonight won a motion of confidence in Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Key questions in the controversy of phone recordings at Garda stations remain unanswered as the Justice Minister responded to a no-confidence motion by telling the Dáil he is not “public enemy number one”.

It took an “unconscionably long time” for Justice Minister Alan Shatter to correct his Dáil statement on garda whistleblowers, according to Labour’s Pat Rabbitte.

Senior gardaí from across the country have spoken openly at a “crisis summit” held yesterday by Noirín O’Sullivan, the acting commissioner.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter faced calls to resign amid attacks on his position and claims that the public were appalled at the way the Garda Commissioner was shafted to save his skin.

Shattergate has now turned into the Agatha Christie mystery Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? rewritten as Why Didn’t They Tell Alan?

Terms for an inquiry into years of secret taping of phone calls to and from Garda stations are expected to be widened to include the recordings of conversations of prisoners with their lawyers.

A fresh bugging probe has opened after the Taoiseach yesterday revealed phone calls between 84 prisoners and their solicitors were “inadvertently recorded”.

New recording revelations must not be a distraction, says Political Editor Mary Regan.

Recording of Telephone Conversations made and retained in Garda Stations. Data Protection Acts — Retention of Data.

Opposition TDs have opened their debate on Justice Minister Alan Shatter with attacks on his character and claims that the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan was "shafted" to save the Minister's political skin.

Secret recordings of conversations between prison inmates and their lawyers are a shocking violation of human rights recognised around the world, the legal industry said tonight.

A Cabinet Minister has said a Fianna Fáil motion of no confidence is a "knee-jerk reaction".

Details have emerged today of an inventory of tapes from Garda station recordings around the country.

The Dáil will today begin debating a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.

A bitter blame game has erupted over the Garda tapes scandal as Government ministers rally behind Alan Shatter ahead of a Dáil vote of no confidence in the justice minister.

Fine Gael ministers have rallied behind Alan Shatter ahead of a vote of no confidence in the justice minister.

The state-of-the-art Garda recording system had the capability to record more than 300 phone lines all day, every day, over a six-year period.

Only emergency calls are monitored at the sole station in Cork City and county which records telephone conversations.

ENDA KENNY fired the first shot, even though he denies firing the garda commissioner, but unfortunately for them, everyone involved in this bizarre saga has formed a circular firing squad intent on taking aim at each other.

The man who headed the Garda telecommunications room at Henry Street Garda HQ yesterday challenged claims that convictions of members of the McCarthy Dundon gang were open to court challenge due to taped conversations.

It is reported senior members of the force are due to attend meetings at the Garda training college in County Tipperary tomorrow.

The body representing rank-and-file Gardaí has insisted that no member of the Garda rank was involved in recording telephone conversations.

Fianna Fáil have tabled a motion of no confidence in Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes has said he does not accept accusations that the Government "stitched up" the former Garda Commissioner.

There are fears that recordings of phonecalls in garda stations could impact trials, even where evidence within them was not used in court.

Social Protection minister Joan Burton has said she has full confidence in Alan Shatter.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has said the Government was as shocked as the public by the revelations over phonecall recordings at Garda stations, and did not know about them before this week.

A solicitor is to seek a review of John Dundon's conviction for murdering Limerick rugby player Shane Geoghegan in light of revelations that gardaí were recording phone calls in and out of garda stations.

The Special Criminal Court has been told there was no phone-recording equipment in two garda stations where IRA membership suspects were held.

The Taoiseach has revealed that tribunals as well as court cases could be affected by the revelations that phone calls in Garda stations were secretly taped.