Alan Shatter calls for Garda Ombudsman commissioners be sacked

Former minister for justice Alan Shatter has called for the Garda Ombudsman commissioners to be sacked and for the report into the allegations of possible “bugging” of its offices to be published in full.

Mr Shatter said the commissioners could not now “simply wash their hands” in relation to the leaking of information to a Sunday newspaper following its failure to identify the source of the leak.

He said it was "unacceptable" and "contrary to the public interest that the GSOC commissioners remain in place" when the issues surrounding the alleged surveillance of its offices and the leaking of information to the Sunday Times remained unresolved.

Alleges cover-up The former minister accused the agency of seeking to “cover up and keep secret a disturbing level of incompetence and failure to comply with their statutory obligations”.

Mr Shatter was forced to resign in the wake of controversies around the GSOC and Garda penalty points controversy.

In the Dáil he called for the the GSOC report into the controversy to be published. He said when allegations of Garda failure have to be investigated by the ombudsman, “to do so with credibility the GSOC must be above reproach. It clearly is not.”

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald told Mr Shatter that she had asked the Garda Ombudsman to consider publishing "in the public interest" its report into the leak of confidential information.

No redacting data Ms Fitzgerald said she had received the report into the leaking of information to the Sunday Times, but that GSOC stressed to her their intention not to publish the report because it contained "personal data which they said was impossible to redact effectively".

She told Mr Shatter that “as much information as possible on the outcome of this inquiry should be put into the public domain in the interests of transparency”.

Mr Shatter said it was unacceptable not to publish the report or “that it be edited into incoherence before publication.”