Burton satisfied with apology for whistleblowers

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has said she is "satisfied" with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter' s apology to Garda whistleblowers Maurice McCabe and John Wilson.

She also said she had no previous knowledge of Garda commissioner Martin Callinan’s decision to resign on Tuesday and welcomed claims Mr Callinan was prepared to withdraw his comments in which he called the whistleblowers “disgusting”.

Ms Burton also said she had confidence in Mr Shatter.

“I was very satisfied yesterday that the justice minister both withdrew previous comments and he corrected the record of the Dáil, and that he also made an apology to the whistleblowers and set out at length his own position in relation to that,” Ms Burton said.

'Pause'
Regarding the recording of phone calls at Garda stations, Ms Burton said it has given "pause for thought".

“I think it has given pause for thought for everybody because apparently these matters go back to the middle of the 1980s,” she said.

“And I’ve been hearing all kinds of people, including people in justice and the gardaí, saying that they’re not aware of this. The information that was given to the Cabinet came from the Taoiseach and currently the terms of reference are being prepared in relation to the commission of investigation.”

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said it was impossible for Mr Callinan to be told on Monday night by Brian Purcell, the secretary general of the Department of Justice, that there was disquiet at Cabinet level about the recordings.

Recordings
Mr Rabbitte said the only people who knew about the recordings on Monday were Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mr Shatter.

All other Ministers, including Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, were told on Tuesday, with Mr Gilmore being informed just before the Cabinet meeting.

It had been reported Mr Purcell told former commissioner Mr Callinan, when he called to his home on Monday night, that there was disquiet at Cabinet level about the information given to the Taoiseach over the weekend by the Attorney General.