Statement by Public Service Oversight Committee following meeting with GSOC

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions met in private session tonight, following an earlier meeting with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

12 February 2014

The Chairman of the Committee Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD has confirmed the following:

The Committee has grave concerns about some of the issues raised during the detailed discussions with the Garda Ombudsman Commissioners. Serious questions remain unanswered.

Reflecting on the need for further consideration of these matters, the Committee has decided:

• To contact the GSOC requesting the unredacted reports by security company Verrimus, and any other related information in connection with the investigation into suspected surveillance at GSOC offices, be made available to the Committee on a confidential basis, and
• To invite the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence Alan Shatter TD to address the Committee on these developments and to assess the approach he and his Department propose to take to respond to the concerns raised.

The Committee is undertaking this process conscious of the need to secure public confidence in the administration of justice.   

ENDS

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Committee Membership
Deputies: Richard Boyd Barrett, Michael Conaghan, Alan Farrell, Charles Flanagan, Noel Harrington, Michael Healy-Rae, Seamus Kirk, Michael Kitt, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Chair), Michael McCarthy, Helen McEntee, Michelle Mulherin, Derek Nolan (Vice-Chair), Aengus Ó Snodaigh and Mick Wallace
Senators: Jimmy Harte, Tony Mulcahy, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh and Susan O’Keeffe