The second Fennelly report into the telephone recordings at Garda stations has been published. It outlines clearly that these recordings were unlawful, but it must also be said that the consequences of such unlawfulness were very significantly overestimated at the time by the Attorney General. I recall the meeting about this issue to which the Taoiseach summoned Deputy Adams and me. Essentially, the Taoiseach advised at that stage that the entire criminal justice system could break down, convictions would be overturned and entire court proceedings would be rendered null and void. More serious than that, it is very clear that the alarmist and over-reactive response of the Government forced the removal of a Garda Commissioner on that specific issue. The Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality was sent out on a Monday evening by the Taoiseach to tell the then Commissioner that the Cabinet could no longer have confidence in him and would not be able to have confidence in him the following day arising from this issue, notwithstanding that, as the report clearly confirms, the Commissioner was about the only person who acted appropriately in respect of this issue. As soon as the Commissioner became aware of the practice, he insisted that it be stopped and wrote to the then Minister for Justice and Equality about it. The Attorney General bypassed the Minister for Justice and Equality and went straight to the Taoiseach to say that the heavens were about to fall and that something needed to happen.

It is extraordinary that an Attorney General would have bypassed a Minister for Justice and Equality in that context. I would appreciate the views of the Taoiseach on the propriety, both constitutionally and generally, of an Attorney General not bringing such a matter to the then Minister for Justice and Equality and the Government. When an Attorney General bypasses the Minister for Justice and Equality, it reveals a bizarre dysfunctionality at the heart of Government.

Would the Taoiseach accept that it was wrong to send the then Secretary General to the Garda Commissioner to tell him that the Cabinet could not have expressed confidence in him arising from these issues, essentially forcing the Commissioner's resignation on this issue? Does the Taoiseach accept that the failure of the Attorney General to inform the then Minister for Justice and Equality about the telephone recording issue was wrong and could not be defended? What is the Taoiseach's position on that?

The Taoiseach knows that the Attorney General knew about this issue as far back as October 2013 but it was March by the time the Taoiseach had been informed. Clearly, the Attorney General was alarmist and over-reactive on this issue. When the Taoiseach established the Fennelly commission, he made it clear that he wanted to restore confidence in the professionalism of An Garda Síochána. In essence, however, the Garda Commissioner had to go and the Minister for Justice and Equality fell on his sword subsequently, but the Attorney General has retained the confidence of the Taoiseach to the very end. Does the Taoiseach believe that the actions of the Attorney General on this issue were proper and appropriate?

Yes, I do. The comments made by Deputy Martin are quite extraordinary. He would attack an officer of the State who is not here to respond. The Attorney General is adviser to the Government. She became aware of matters that she could not have known about, nor did anybody else know, or the extent of them. These were quite serious matters and she acted quite appropriately and properly in bringing them to my attention as Taoiseach.

In consideration of that, the first interim report of the Fennelly commission on a sworn inquiry dealt with some of the matters raised by Deputy Martin. The interim report of the Fennelly commission, and I thank Mr. Justice Fennelly for the work he has put into it, was very clear in its findings that I had no intention of forcing the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner and that the former Commissioner himself had decided to retire.

The second element of the Fennelly commission deals with the issue raised by Deputy Martin with regard to the Attorney General of our State. She had brought to my attention a very serious issue about the unlawful recording of telephone calls to Garda stations. Once again, I thank Mr. Justice Fennelly for the work he did in this. He says in his findings that these recordings were unlawful and unconstitutional, and that there was a lack of effective oversight and procedures within An Garda Síochána over a very lengthy period, including in regard to the content of certain telephone calls relating to the investigation of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

These are the reasons the Attorney General was quite justified in bringing the issue to my attention and why we were quite justified in putting together a commission of investigation to find out the answers to those questions. I am very glad to note that no case before the courts or pending in the courts was in any way compromised by this situation. The findings, however, are clear. The matter was unlawful, unconstitutional and went on for a very great length of time and it did not interfere with any case pending or before the courts.

On the second report of the Fennelly commission, I was notified of this by the commission by the close-off date on Friday at 6 p.m. As is my responsibility, I sent that to the Attorney General for her analysis and examination. She reported to me, in writing, that it was in order to publish the Fennelly report, which I did within 12 to 14 hours. It is now part of the overall consideration of the root and branch analysis of An Garda Síochána, which Government has agreed to and has decided to do. It will wish to have the views of the Opposition leaders and the Opposition parties.

In respect of the findings in the second report by Fennelly, the Minister has decided to refer the report to the Policing Authority, oversee the implementation of the recommendations in the context of the oversight of An Garda Síochána, examine the need for legislation in the context of the recording of calls; and refer matters relating to the Bailey case and dealt with in the report to GSOC to consider whether it believes that any further investigation is necessary against the background of the investigation that it has already been carrying out into this case. The Attorney General is quite justified in her actions.

The Taoiseach avoided answering the key questions I put to him. He is, perhaps, the only person who has that view on the removal of the former Garda Commissioner. Irrespective of one's views on the former Commissioner or whether one was for or against him, the bottom line is that on this issue he did everything appropriately. However, the Taoiseach sent the Secretary General out to his house in the middle of the night. That does not normally happen. Nor is it normal when a Commissioner happens to resign the following morning. While the Taoiseach managed to say with a straight face that he had nothing to do with it, the bottom line is that the immediate context was this phone-recording crisis. I recall the meeting between the Taoiseach, myself and Deputy Adams well. The only person there who said that court cases could be overturned was the Taoiseach. That was on the basis of the advice he had received from the Attorney General. I find it astonishing that the Taoiseach does not have some regrets and does not at least accept that the wrong thing happened that evening.

Essentially, a Garda Commissioner was removed and the law governing the removal of a Garda Commissioner was bypassed. That eventually led to a resignation which covered all the technicalities. Cabinet approval was not sought. The message was relayed that the Cabinet could not have confidence even though it was not consulted. That is not good constitutionally for the country. Things should be done according to proper practice and in a proper way. The latter did not happen on that occasion and the reason was a panicked, alarmist and over-reactive response from the Taoiseach and the Attorney General. The Taoiseach has failed to comment on the failure of the Attorney General to talk to the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality. Why will he not answer that question? It is incredible.

I have already dealt with the Deputy's question. I asked the sole member, Mr. Justice Fennelly, who was in charge of the commission to deal, in the first instance, with two elements of what was considered important in the terms of reference. He dealt with those elements and the findings of the sworn inquiry are clear. The finding of Mr. Justice Fennelly was that the former Garda Commissioner decided to retire.

In the context of the second Fennelly report, the Attorney General was quite justified in bringing to the attention of the public - and to me, as Taoiseach - an extraordinary situation whereby hundreds of thousands of phone calls over a very long period were made to certain Garda stations and were recorded unlawfully. Who knows what might have been said during some of those phone calls? There was a woman murdered in west Cork and, in respect of phone calls made to a Garda station, this had a bearing on the setting up of a commission of investigation.

The commission of investigation is clear in its findings. These phone calls were unlawful in being taped, they were unconstitutional and they did not interfere, at the end of the day, with any case before the courts or pending going to the courts. This was not a case of what the Deputy describes as over-reaction or panic. It is a very important element of the security of our State and confidence in the Garda. As Mr. Justice Fennelly has pointed out, this happened in Garda stations around the country over a very lengthy period. It has now ended and the situation arising from that means that the root-and-branch analysis of An Garda Síochána will take these matters into account, with the Policing Authority, with GSOC and through the action that the Government will take in respect of any legislation that is necessary.