Confidential recipient Oliver Connolly relieved of duties

The departure of Oliver Connolly from his post as Garda confidential recipient was announced by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday.

Mr Kenny said Minister for Justice Alan Shatter had "this morning relieved Mr Connolly of his duties''.

The Taoiseach said he had received a report on the issue from the secretary general of the Department of Justice, who in the past two weeks had made a number of contacts with the confidential recipient over the veracity of a transcript of a conversation between Mr Connolly and Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe published in newspapers.

He added that he had read all the statements made, and had been in contact with Mr Shatter, who was very concerned about the matter.

Mr Kenny was replying to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, who said that last week he had read elements of the transcript into the House record. They related to "how, if Mr Shatter felt that the whistleblower was going to screw him . . . that he would be finished and that if complaints were exposed to the print media it would make him an angry man and so on''.

The transcript, said Mr Martin, made for serious and grave reading. "The import of the transcript is such that the Garda whistleblower is frustrated and there is a sense of disbelief that his complaints are going nowhere.''

He said Mr Connolly had spoken of “his close proximity to Alan [Shatter] and how he communicated with him in relation to the allegations that the whistleblower put before him’’.

Mr Martin said he had met Mr McCabe and thought he was a credible man. “He has some story to tell, but the Minister for Justice, essentially, has not allowed him tell it.’’

He said the Taoiseach should insist that Mr Shatter come into the House and apologise to Mr McCabe. The Minister, he added, must answer serious questions on the issue.

Mr Martin said when Mr McCabe sent the Taoiseach a dossier he wrote to his office saying he had not been interviewed by Assistant Garda Commissioner John O’Mahony, though he had made all of the allegations.

“The Taoiseach wrote to the Department of Justice and the Minister told him that whether Mr McCabe would be interviewed was an operational matter for the head of the inquiry team,’’ Mr Martin added.

He said it was an extraordinary reply. Yet, having sent that letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Shatter told the Dáil that the whistleblower had not co-operated with the inquiry. “That was a blatant untruth,’’ said Mr Martin.

He said that in the interests of fair play “the Minister needs to correct the record if he has any sense of decency towards the individual concerned’’.

Mr Martin added that Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar had said on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland that he knew Mr McCabe to be credible.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Taoiseach should relieve Mr Shatter of his duties as Minister. Damage had been done to the Garda Síochána, accountability and to whistleblowing within that organisation.

"The chief author of the damage is none other than the Minister for Justice. The mystery is that the Taoiseach stands by him regardless, as do all members of Fine Gael and Labour. ''

On the bugging of the GSOC offices, she said Mr Kenny should do the right thing and use the legislation available to urgently establish a full independent and functioning committee of investigation.

Mr Kenny said he had dealt with the issue on Tuesday, adding that the Government had made a decision it was appropriate that a High Court judge should look into the matter.

Meanwhile, the Dáil last night resumed debate on a Sinn Féin Private Members’ motion seeking an independent inquiry into the alleged bugging of the GSOC offices. The Government rejected the motion.

Independent Mick Wallace said it had been a case of one muddle after another on the GSOC surveillance. "Decisions are not being made in order to garner the truth.'' He said there was no appetite for proper procedure and the truth.