Micheál Martin: Government hasn’t grasped seriousness of the situation

WHEN the front page of a Sunday newspaper announced over a week ago that the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission has been under hi-tech surveillance I, like many people, was taken aback.

My colleague Niall Collins issued a statement that day calling for clarification from the minister on what was going on, had GSOC been bugged, and who was responsible.

We made this statement from the perspective of a political party that places great trust and support in our gardaí and from the position that any threat to public confidence in our justice system needs to be understood and faced down aggressively. We also made the statement in full expectation that the Government would naturally share our concern and that getting to the bottom of the claims would be its primary objective.