FG seeks comment from McDowell on child porn case

Fine Gael is calling on the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice , Michael McDowell, to clarify his level of knowledge about gardaí inaction against two child pornography suspects.

The gardaí have confirmed that they received information from the Austrian authorities last August about two Irish suspects who paid to access illegal images on the Internet.

However, no action was taken on foot of the information.

Fine Gael TD Jim O'Keefe said today that the minister should make a statement about when he became aware of the situation.

"Michael McDowell should clarify when he learned of the situation and how he became aware of it," he said.

"The minister is accountable and I also want to know from him what steps he is taking to ensure that this doesn't happen again."