Garda watchdog HQ bugging claim

An Oireachtas committee is to contact the Garda Ombudsman today, calling on it to make a statement on dramatic reports its offices have been bugged.

Pádraig MacLochlainn, chairman of the Oireachtas Public Services Oversight Committee, said that Justice Minister Alan Shatter needed to examine the claims.

He told the Irish Examiner the reports placed a question mark over the force.

He said he would be “shocked beyond belief” if the gardaí were behind the covert surveillance, adding that he did not believe that was the case.

The Fine Gael chairman of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, David Stanton, called on Mr Shatter to fully brief himself and the Cabinet on the “very serious” reports.

Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, called on the minister to make a statement on the “extraordinary claims”, saying that they undermined confidence in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

Mr Shatter said that he had sought a report from GSOC. The watchdog and the gardaí declined to comment yesterday.