Ministers support Shatter in blame game

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.

The Government has been accused of scapegoating Martin Callinan, the former Garda commissioner, ahead of discussions today about a full-scale inquiry into the secret recording of telephone calls in and out of Garda stations.

Leo Varadkar, the transport minister, led the charge and said the biggest concern was why it had taken five months for the Garda chief to inform Mr Shatter about the 30 years of recordings made at stations.