The Minister for Justice told the Dail that the Attorney General telephoned him in Berlin in February about the controversial Sheedy court case.

Mr O'Donoghue said that the AG had told him he had been approached by the Director of Public Prosecutions about his concerns in the case.

The Minister stressed that he was giving a preliminary statement to the House and would not be able to give a definitive statement until the inquiries were completed. While he was aware that suggestions had been made concerning the alleged involvement of named individuals outside the House, he did not consider himself at liberty to use Dail privilege to discuss or detail those suggestions pending the completion of the inquiries.

Mr O'Donoghue rejected "some totally outrageous innuendos" made under Dail privilege concerning his part in the matter.

"I have had no hand, act or part whatsoever in any aspect of the listing or handling of this case. I neither received nor made requests to anybody in this regard and I had no knowledge whatsoever about it until I was phoned by the AG on February 10th last.

Outlining the circumstances in which the case came to his notice and that of his Department, Mr O'Donoghue said: "The prisoner in question was produced in court on November 12th, 1998, and released by the court on the same day. The first query received by Department relating to this matter was on Thursday, February 4th, 1999, when a letter addressed to `the Minister for Justice, 72 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2' arrived in my Department.

"It read as follows: `Re John Ryan, Tymon Crescent, Old Bawn, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Date of accident 15/3'96. J. Ryan-v-P. Sheedy. Dear Sir, I enclose herewith a copy letter sent to the Governor of Shanganagh prison, Shankill, Co Dublin. Yours faithfully, Edward T. O'Connor & Co.'

"The enclosure was a letter addressed to the governor protesting that the Ryan family had not been notified of the release of an offender who had been involved in a car accident in which their client's wife had died. They noted that `we are still a number of months short of the review date'.

"This correspondence, which made no reference to any allegation of irregularity or court hearing, was acknowledged by the private secretary in my office on Friday, February 5th, and transmitted to the prisons section in the Department for whatever action was deemed appropriate.

"An examination of the prisoner's file indicated no irregularities in that, as I already have said, the prisoner was released by court. Former ministers for justice in this House will know that solicitors' offices very frequently copy letters to the Department in this way and they are normally associated with the relevant offender file in the prisons section. This correspondence was not brought to my personal notice at the time.

"On the night following Wednesday, February 10th, I received a phone call in Berlin, where I was attending an EU meeting, from the Attorney General. The AG informed me that he had been approached by the Director of Public Prosecutions over the fact that the State had not received any advance notice of the application to the Circuit Court which resulted in the early release of Mr Sheedy from prison.

"Of particular concern was the fact that there were rumours to the effect that the listing of the case, and/or the fact that the State had received no advance notification, may have been brought about by improper practice (as distinct from error or omission) within the courts.

"During that conversation, I decided that an inquiry should be established and the Attorney General said he would inform the Chief Justice, which I understand he did the following day, and I decided to inform the Garda Commissioner. On the following morning, I phoned the secretary general of the Department and asked that the Garda Commissioner should investigate the matter.

"On the same morning, the secretary general phoned a deputy commissioner of the Garda (in the absence of the commissioner) and asked him what information he had on the matter. He also obtained some outline factual information on the case within the Department. The secretary general spoke that morning, too, to the Attorney General who gave him an account of what the DPP had said to him. He later spoke to the DPP.

"On the basis of the various contacts which took place between the secretary general, the Garda authorities and, separately with the DPP, it became clear to him that it would not be appropriate to initiate, at that time, a criminal investigation, particularly against the background that the DPP was about to initiate judicial review proceedings which have, of course, since taken place.

"The DPP was of the view that a criminal investigation would in all the circumstances be premature, to say the least, and that was a view shared by the Garda authorities.

"On February 16th, my Department contacted the county registrar and requested him to provide a written report in the matter. There has also been subsequent contact and correspondence with the county registrar, arising from the replies he provided.

"This included a phone call from the county registrar as late as this morning which included information relevant to the Department's inquiries. As the earlier correspondence with the county registrar suggested that it would be necessary also to contact the Chief State Solicitor, my Department also wrote to him on February 24th and again on March 3rd seeking more information.

"I received a reply to these letters on March 31st. I will refer again to this particular response later in my statement. It is important. As these contacts are so recent and indeed ongoing, it has not been possible to finalise Department inquiries just yet.

"Separate inquiries have also been instituted by the Chief Justice into this matter. It seems to me that this is the appropriate course to follow since it seems that it may be necessary to address queries to a member or members of the judiciary in this regard.

"While I do not intend to go into details of the information so far to hand, for the reason I gave earlier, I think it right that I should specifically refer to the reply I received yesterday evening from the Chief State Solicitor's Office. That reply included a detailed file note in which an official outlined various contacts which he had had with people in the courts who, according to him, had a part in the listing of the case for November 12th, 1998.

"Upon receipt of this material which, incidentally, I received by fax in Belfast, where I have been attending the Northern talks, I immediately requested the Attorney General to refer the matter to the President of the Circuit Court and to inform the Chief Justice that he had done so.

"I did this as it seemed right, on the basis of the contents of this note, that a member or members of the judiciary should be invited to comment on certain matters."

"I should mention in connection with the document which I received from the Chief State Solicitor's Office yesterday, that I sought further advice from the Attorney General on the whole question of the initiation of a Garda investigation."