Vol. 458 No. 1
1 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice whether the Garda have initiated an inquiry into the allegations concerning the forging of letters made on the RTE "Prime Time" programme of 2 November 1995; whether she has requested the Garda authorities to initiate an investigation into the "Prime Time" programme of 2 November 1995; and if not, the reason therefor. [16612/95]
34 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice whether the Garda have initiated an inquiry into the allegations concerning the forging of letters made on the RTE "Prime Time" programme of 2 November 1995; whether she has requested the Garda authorities to initiate an investigation into the "Prime Time" programme of 2 November 1995; and if not, the reason therefor. [16531/95]
69 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Justice whether the Garda investigation into the alleged surveillance of the Minister, Deputy Lowry, made any findings as to the authorship of the letters sent to the Minister and others; the extent of this investigation; the conclusions reached by the Garda; and whether the Garda file on the matter is closed. [16617/95]
70 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, there are for a Garda investigation into the circumstances in which letters alleging that the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications had been placed under surveillance came into existence. [16618/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 34, 69 and 70 together. I remind the House that matters arising from the RTE "Prime Time" broadcast of 2 November are the subject of legal proceedings by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in relation to that programme. In the interests of not jeopardising these proceedings in any way. I am obliged to exercise caution in what I say in relation to this matter.
Deputies will be aware from previous Dáil questions and debates on this matter that a number of letters received by Ministers and others were referred to the gardaí to enable them to decide whether a criminal investigation should take place. The Garda authorities have been in contact with relevant Government Departments in this regard and, while no new or separate investigation has been initiated arising out of the "Prime Time" broadcast of 2 November, the gardaí have taken account of the broadcast in the context of the assessment on which they are already engaged.
In her reply to questions on 24 October, the Minister for Justice replied at some length on the manner in which the allegation that the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications had been placed under surveillance was dealt with. I refer Deputies to the full reply the Minister gave on that occasion.
The House will be aware from that reply that the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications provided information to a senior Garda officer on 25 July concerning an allegation, contained in a letter he had received, that he and others had been placed under surveillance. The Minister also told the House that the Garda authorities subsequently informed the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications and the Minister for Justice that having examined the information provided and taking the Garda's investigative role of criminal issues into account, they had decided they had no investigative role in relation to the particular allegation of surveillance.
The Minister for Justice also informed the House on that occasion that, in view of the decision which the Garda authorities had taken in relation to the surveillance allegations, no report was prepared by the Garda Síochána on the surveillance issue, and that the question of the content and conclusions of such a report did not, therefore, arise.
Can the Minister of State now advise the House why the Garda authorities should have felt the surveillance issue should not have been investigated further? There was an allegation of criminal activity linked to surveillance. Does the Minister accept that if surveillance was linked to a criminal offence, in that event it would be deemed to be aiding and abetting the crime and the gardaí would have seen fit to pursue the matter?
The Minister for Justice answered part of that question in the House on 24 October. I have explained the current position. To bring the matter up to date, the gardaí have not initiated an investigation into the "Prime Time" broadcast for the reason I stated. The Garda authorities have, however, taken account of the broadcast in the context of the wider assessment of the letters in question, in which they are already engaged.
The Minister failed to answer the question and I am obliged to ask it again. If there was surveillance which was aiding and abetting a criminal offence, why did the Garda not proceed to investigate the surveillance allegation?
Repetition is a luxury we cannot afford when we are dealing with a strict time factor——
If the Minister would answer the question I would not repeat myself.
——however, if this is how the Deputy wishes to dissipate the time, so be it.
I thought I had already answered that question and that the Minister had previously done so. The question on the Order Paper of which we were given notice refers specifically to the allegations contained in the RTE "Prime Time" programme and what the Minister did in response.
Questions Nos. 34, 69 and 70 are taken with Priority Question No. 1. Those questions relate to surveillance and the Minister has not answered them. I ask him to do so and to answer the following question. If the letters were bogus, in the context of the subsequent "Prime Time" programme, how can it be credibly claimed that the contents of the letters were true? I also ask the Minister to answer the first question.
The only reply I will make is the one in my initial statement. As the Deputy and everyone else is aware, the "Prime Time" programme is a matter of legal consideration and I do not think it would be wise for me to answer further questions in relation to it. I suggest to the Deputy that perhaps he should not say certain things in relation to it either.
Let us come to Question No. 2. I wish to dissuade Deputy O'Donoghue of the notion that we can debate this matter now; we cannot. If the Deputy is dissatisfied with the Minister of State's reply, he has a remedy. He may raise it in many other ways
