ROUND-the-clock Garda surveillance on the Labour TD, Ms Roisin Shortall, has been lifted, although the official investigation into threatening telephone calls made to her last week has not been completed.
There was anger in Labour Party circles yesterday following reports that gunshots recorded on her answering machine in Leinster House may have been made from a telephone inside the building. If this were the case, it would indicate the call was a prank. The Labour Party took the calls extremely seriously, saying they were an attempt to intimidate the TD over her anti-drugs stance.
Ms Shortall's secretary was the first to hear seven gunshots on the answering machine when she came to work last Tuesday, the day that Labour backbenchers were launching an anti-drugs policy package.
Gardai were alerted and confirmed that the gunshots sounded authentic. They immediately started investigating the incidents. After the TD received a further call, this time at home, from a man mimicking the sound of a gunshot, gardai stepped up their surveillance. Labour sources confirmed last night that this had now been lifted.