Independent TD Clare Daly said that "very defined viewpoints" were taken on the Cooke Report into allegations of bugging at the Garda Ombudsman’s office "to peddle a myth".

An Oireachtas committee may call for a commission of investigation into the "GSOC bugging saga" after it holds further sessions with the ombudsman and possibly with retired judge John Cooke.

LET’S get Alan Shatter back his job. Let’s start a campaign here for a man who has been grievously wronged. Isn’t that the implication of the Cooke report into alleged bugging of the Garda Ombudsman’s office? Shatter was right all along. There was bugger-all bugging going on.

Further explanations have been demanded about who tried to contact witnesses before they spoke to retired judge, John Cooke, in an attempt to influence his investigation into allegations of bugging at the Garda Ombudsman Commission’s office.

John Cooke’s lack of curiosity has hindered the bugging report, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford.

While retired judge John Cooke has made some pointed criticisms of the Garda Ombudsman in his 65-page report, he does so largely ‘in retrospect’ and in context, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

The head of the Garda Ombudsman has said questions remain unanswered over fears that his offices were bugged.

THE story broke in The Sunday Times on February 9. In a security sweep the previous autumn, it had been discovered that there were three potential security breaches of communication systems in the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, located on Dublin’s Capel St.

Middle-ranking gardaí have accused the ombudsman of going outside the law by using an independent firm to investigate suspected bugging at its offices.

Cormac O’Keeffe looks at a plethora of investigations, inquiries and reviews that are under way to try and establish the facts and assess the actions of various state agencies and individuals in relation to four separate controversies.

THE breakdown in the relationship between the Garda Ombudsman and the Minister for Justice has deepened following Alan Shatter’s appearance at an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday evening.

Justice minister Alan Shatter has cast doubt on the Garda Ombudsman’s justification for launching a public interest investigation into suspected bugging at its Dublin headquarters.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said there was “nothing to indicate” gardaí were engaged in surveillance of the Garda Ombudsman at the time the watchdog set up an inquiry to investigate if members were involved.

The British company which carried out the security sweep at the offices of the Garda Ombudsman yesterday said it stood by its findings. Verrimus said it “welcomed the opportunity” to discuss its investigation with the High Court judge if it was so requested.

A Garda whistleblower has described the sacking of the force’s confidential recipient as "disturbing".

The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin says the Justice Minister Alan Shatter has tried to "undermine" GSOC from the outset of the bugging controversy.

The justice minister has said the Garda ombudsman has told him that a security threat at its HQ included a wi-fi device connected to a coffee shop below the watchdog’s offices.

The British security firm which carried out a surveillance sweep at the Garda Ombudsman’s offices yesterday described reports regarding two of the three “technical anomalies” it detected as “wholly inaccurate”.

A timeline of the GSOC controversy

The Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said he received a report stating there is "no evidence at all" of bugging at the offices of the Garda Ombudsman Commission.

The security firm at the centre of the GSOC bugging crisis has claimed it was invited to Garda headquarters to demonstrate high tech surveillance equipment while it was conducting its confidential night-time security sweeps at the police ombudsman’s HQ.

The UK surveillance firm called in to carry out bug sweeps at the Garda ombudsman’s offices has revealed it was asked to demonstrate high-level counter-surveillance technology to the Garda.

CONFUSION and spin. That’s what we have now. Confusion over whether the Garda ombudsman was bugged or not. And spin. Spin against the ombudsman on one hand and spin against the gardaí and Justice Minister Alan Shatter on the other.

It is extremely troubling that confusion and obfuscation continue to surround the suspected bugging at the office of the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission.

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions says it has grave concerns at some of the issues raised by the Garda Ombudsman Commission earlier, regarding possible surveillance at the GSOC headquarters.