Yesterday the Taoiseach stated in the House, in respect of the confidential recipient and Garda whistleblower, that "having read all of the statements made and having been in contact with the Minister for Justice and Equality who is very concerned about this matter [...] he has this morning relieved Mr. Connolly of his duties". There has been nothing else from the Taoiseach or the Minister and no comprehensive statement from the latter concerning the entire affair or outlining the rationale for relieving Mr. Connolly of his duties. After the emergence of the transcript, there was absolute silence from the Minister for Justice and Equality for approximately two weeks, and then there was a very minimalist response. Everybody is expected to believe that in the conversation involving the confidential recipient and the Minister, the confidential recipient is wrong in his assertions vis-à-vis the Minister.
Yesterday I handed a series of shocking cases to the Taoiseach involving assault, sexual assault and a range a very profound, serious and shocking incidents. I seek clarification on a very key point. The confidential recipient would have had possession of all this material for approximately two years. It involves, in its entire detail, the case of the abduction and assault of Mary Lynch, the subsequent abduction of a child in Tipperary by the same culprit and the subsequent murder of Sylvia Roche Kelly. The confidential recipient got it in the form of a complaint from Mr. Maurice McCabe, the whistleblower. It included all of those cases to which I have referred and many more. The information was sent to the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, by the confidential recipient. We know this from the transcript because it states:
Connolly: Shatter would have read your report in detail, I know he did, he communicated with me and he will have read all of your exhibits, which I actually labelled them numbered one to nine in the actual, in the order they were highlighted so he did know. And you know I redacted, the only thing I redacted was your name. Alan studied everything in fact I know he did.
The Minister knew about these very shocking and serious cases for two years. With knowledge of those cases, he comes into this House and actually accuses the whistleblower of not co-operating with the Garda in its inquiry into the penalty points saga, undermining the man's credibility in the public domain. This was fundamentally wrong.
