Shatter to attend committee over GSOC surveillance

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has agreed to appear before an Oireachtas committee in relation to the alleged surveillance of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) offices.

In relation to calls for an independent inquiry a spokeswoman for Mr Shatter said such calls overlook the fact that GSOC is an investigatory body which investgated the amatter . GSOC found no definitive evidence of unaauthoried surveillance and seemed no action necessary, she said.

GSOC was currently engaged in an internal inquiry “ to establish insofar as is possible the facts in relation to a possible unauthorised disclosure of information and in the first instance we must await the outcome of those inquiries,”, she said.

Mr Shatter whas agreed to appeatr before the joint Commitee on Public Service Oversight and Peititions.

Earlier today Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said he is satisfied no State agency was involved in the suspected bugging of the GSOC offices.

During leaders’ questions in the Dáil Mr Gilmore was repeatedly pressed on the issue by Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald.

“Am I satisfied that no organ of the State put the Garda Ombudsman Commission under surveillance?’’ said Mr Gilmore. “Yes, I am.”

Replying to Ms McDonald and Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Niall Collins, the Tánaiste indicated his support for the call by the Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions for the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, to attend a committee hearing on the controversy.

He said he welcomed the fact that the committee intended to continue examining the issue.

“I understand that the committee is inviting the Minister for Justice to attend there, and he will, of course, be very happy to do so,’’ the Tánaiste added.

Mr Gilmore said he rejected the claim that there was some kind of co-ordinated strategy by the Government to undermine the GSOC. “The Government entirely respects and values its independence,’’ he added.

He believed, he said, that it did a very good job and acted independently.

In a statement today Mr Shatter responded to calls for an independent inquiry into the matter by saying he was awaiting the outcome of the internal GSOC inquiry into the unauthorised disclosure of information from its office.

The controversy surrounding alleged security breaches at GSOC escalated yesterday when its chairman said he suspected the policing watchdog had been under surveillance.

Simon O’Brien backed up the account of commissioner Kieran Fitzgerald that there was evidence of some sort of security breach at the commission’s headquarters in Dublin.

Since the controversy broke at the weekend, Mr Shatter has insisted the GSOC had found “no definitive evidence” of surveillance, and has rejected calls for an independent inquiry.

Mr O’Brien told the Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions that the GSOC had launched a public interest investigation into the suspected surveillance after it was detected by private UK security consultants last September.

He also said the commission was investigating the source of a leak which led to details of the security sweep entering the public domain.

“It is highly likely that information has come from documents within GSOC,” he said, with “less than seven” people having access to the documents.