Pressure is continuing to mount on Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to clarify her position surrounding her treatment of whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission.
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the commission's report would be debated in the Dáil on Wednesday and Thursday.
“There is a lot of material in that that really does need detailed discussion,” she told RTÉ on Sunday.
As for the controversy surrounding the Commissioner’s instructions to the Garda legal team at the inquiry, the Minister said: “I’m sure she’ll, in the appropriate forum, make a comment in relation to that as much as she can.”
A leaked transcript of exchanges between lawyers at the inquiry indicated that the Garda Commissioner initially sought to attack Sgt McCabe’s character and integrity but that revised directions were later given.
Last week, Ms O’Sullivan issued a statement saying: “I want to make it clear that I do not – and have never, regarded Sgt McCabe as malicious.”
However, the controversy continues with Opposition politicians calling for further clarification.
Fianna Fáil TD James Lawless told RTÉ's The Week in Politics there was a contradiction between the submissions made at the tribunal and the commissioner's public statements "and that has to be addressed before we can move on".
Reiterating her call for a broader inquiry, Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly said: “One way or another if the commissioner does not reply to these huge issues of public concern then the Minister has within legislation the power to initiate an investigation and to get answers. That absolutely must be done.”
Earlier, the newly-elected Labour leader Brendan Howlin said there was a need to be convinced that the Garda Commissioner was changing the way the Garda dealt with whistleblowers.
Although he had confidence in Ms O’Sullivan, Mr Howlin said: “Bluntly, I have no confidence in the Department of Justice to drive that change because I think there is too close of a relationship between the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána, who sometimes see themselves as the downtown office of An Garda Síochána.”