The terms of reference for the commission of investigation established by the Government into Garda taping may not be finalised until the end of this week at the earliest.
Ministers are expected to discuss the shape of the inquiry into the taping controversy, as well as the establishment of an independent Garda authority, at the weekly Cabinet meeting today.
Separately, two inquiries initiated to investigate other Garda controversies are not expected to report before Easter.
However, Government sources said the inquiry by senior counsel Seán Guerin into a dossier of Garda malpractice claims, made by whistleblower Maurice McCabe, and the investigation by Judge John Cooke into the alleged bugging of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission offices, will not be delayed by long. One source said the delay will be “very brief”.
A debate on a Dáil motion of no confidence in Minister for Justice Alan Shatter tabled by Fianna Fáil begins tonight. A Government spokesman said the focus on “personalities and the politics of opposition” was undermining investigations into one of the “gravest breaches of security”.
Health insurance
In addition to the Garda controversies, today's Cabinet agenda includes other issues, such as Minister for Health Dr James Reilly's plans for universal health insurance.
According to sources, the Cabinet will have a “substantive” discussion today on terms of reference for the commission of investigation but it is not expected to reach any final conclusions.
They may be finalised by the end of the week, or early next week, and it is likely the senior or retired member of the judiciary who will chair the investigation will see the terms of reference before they are finalised. Government sources also claimed there has been no firm discussion on possible judges yet.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, speaking at an event marking the opening of an Irish consulate in Austin, Texas, said it was important for the Government to deal with the “substance of the issue”. “We have decided to establish a commission of investigation to establish the full extent of conversations with Garda stations and between gardaí, and I think it is important that we establish the full facts,” he said at the function, which was also attended by Nandita Berry, the secretary of state for Texas.
“I certainly take it very seriously, that people who telephone a Garda station, their conversations may have been tape-recorded without their knowledge. I take very seriously the recording of conversations between gardaí, again without their knowledge.”
Mr Gilmore also said it was “surprising” a letter sent to the Department of Justice from former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan on March 10th on the issue of taping was not brought to the attention of Mr Shatter until last week.
“That is surprising that didn’t happen. I think that will be one of the issues that will be addressed by the commission of investigation.”
Pressure on Shatter
There are growing calls for Mr Shatter – and senior officials in his department – to answer questions before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice on the affair.
Committee chairman Fine Gael TD David Stanton declined to say if he favoured this approach, but said he would make his views known at a committee meeting tomorrow.
