Minister rebuffs ‘rogue garda’ quiz

When Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan was asked how he could be 100% sure there was no rogue element in the gardaí who may have been involved in alleged bugging, Justice Minister Alan Shatter intervened, saying: “We are back into what I was talking about last night, the narrative where there is an assumption that there was surveillance.

“The conclusion reached by GSOC in the context of their own investigation was that there were what they described as anomalies, potential threats and vulnerabilities. The word vulnerabilities is used in the context of the technical report, that gave rise to concerns that they needed to have better security in place.

“It’s a very attractive narrative to assume that they were under surveillance, but the conclusion of GSOC themselves is that there is no definitive evidence of unauthorised, technical, or electronic surveillance of their offices. GSOC have investigated themselves and I am not going to revisit it.

“GSOC have produced a report. It has that conclusion in it. That conclusion has been furnished as stated in the report to members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee. And it’s the conclusion that I specifically repeated in the Dáil. To suggest that this needs some further investigation is to say you have no confidence in the investigation undertaken by GSOC. I am not going to say that I have no confidence in the investigation undertaken by GSOC; I have no reason to say that.”