Enda refuses questions on Callinan inquiry

THE Taoiseach has refused to answer questions about whether he has spoken to the commission investigating the departure of former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

When pressed on the matter this week, the MoS was told all contact between Enda Kenny and the Fennelly Inquiry was confidential.

Mr Kenny made a written submission to the Fennelly Inquiry in July, but has since refused to say whether he has had more contact.

A Government spokesman said: ‘The Taoiseach has commented on this on numerous occasions, including in the Dáil this week and during Taoiseach’s Questions on July 15.’

This week it was announced that the public must wait until next year to find out the circumstances leading to the resignation of the former commissioner and the role of Mr Kenny, who dispatched a senior official to his home the night before he stepped down.

Former Supreme Court Judge Nial Fennelly asked for an extension of the deadline to complete his inquiry into this and the wider issue of the systematic recording of phone calls at Garda stations. He was originally due to report by the end of this year.

Mr Kenny told the Dáil this week that the manner in which the inquiry will work is ‘a matter entirely for the commission’.

A preliminary report into the circumstances behind the resignation of the former commissioner will be provided to the Taoiseach in early 2015. Mr Callinan stepped down in March, hours after being visited at his home by the then secretary general of the Department of Justice Brian Purcell. Mr Kenny has rejected claims that he sacked Mr Callinan.

The Opposition has accused Mr Kenny of using Mr Callinan as a scapegoat for a series of controversies relating to the treatment of Garda whistleblowers, engulfing then justice minister Alan Shatter. Mr Shatter resigned as minister after the publication of the Guerin Report into the handling of whistleblowers.

This week, the Garda Inspectorate Report on Crime Investigation identified inefficient processes and highlighted ‘systemic failures’ in recording practices on the Pulse system. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald described the publication of the report as a ‘line in the sand’ moment in relation to policing in Ireland.

Acting Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan said she accepted the broad principles within the report.