I join with others in raising the question of what have been referred to as anomalies at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Although I do not agree with him on most issues, I support the call made by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, on his way into the Cabinet meeting this morning for the commission to clarify what it means by "anomalies".

The Government response to this issue has been poor in the extreme. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, seemed mainly concerned with complaining that he, as Minister, should have been told about it first. We had the Taoiseach talking rubbish from abroad, apparently not even fully briefed on the relevant legislation, and echoing the line that the Minister should have been informed of what was happening. We had a representative of the commission effectively telling us last night, through the media, that the commission had come to a dead end with its investigation but, by the way, the Garda Síochána was not implicated. That looks dodgy to me. Delegates from the commission will come before the relevant Oireachtas committee tomorrow, but the question arises as to what they will be allowed to tell us.

What is required is an announcement, before the end of the day, of a full independent inquiry into this matter. Indeed, we should have had an announcement this morning that some international body would be invited to examine the situation. This is up there with the Arms Trial. It is up there with a murderer being found in the Attorney General's apartment in the early 1980s.

We are talking about the most important arm of the State from a justice perspective. The people who oversee the police force and the legal apparatus of the State are saying there were anomalies and may have been bugs. We have the Garda Síochána saying it had nothing to do with it and the representative organisations calling on the chairperson of the Ombudsman commission to consider his position. Ministers are running around in circles, more concerned about knowing first. This is a disaster. Who is running the country? Who is in charge of our justice system? Where does the buck stop? We need to know. The only way we will get that in a way people can be confident of is through an international, independent inquiry as a matter of utmost urgency. It should be given a couple of weeks to report. Then we can know what is going on, who was listening to who, why, and what implications there are for the security of the State.

I agree that we should support the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in the proper functioning of its duties and should deplore any bugging if it took place. It is not up with the Arms Trial and the bugging of the telephones of Geraldine Kennedy and Bruce Arnold, which were proven facts. Who was reputed to have provided the tape recorder for that event? We should also protect people - and hope the Garda Síochána is protected - from unwarranted aspersions and this "dodgy" stuff. There is nothing dodgy at this moment about the Garda Síochána.

It looks dodgy to us.

Senator MacSharry should get some tape recorders. What we need now are the facts, not to be casting aspersions on anyone. It could be a ball of wind.

Senator D'Arcy should be saying that to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, not to me.

Senator MacSharry had his speak.

Not as long as the other Members.

The Senator should not keep interrupting Senator D'Arcy.

I think Senator MacSharry will agree that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission should refrain from commenting on the airwaves on the credibility of whistleblowers.

Is that not what I said?

It has a big responsibility and we should get that office working correctly.