I join others Senators in welcoming the publication of the Cooke report. We are all greatly relieved there was no concrete evidence of surveillance of the GSOC offices or that the Garda was in any way involved in illegal activity. It is important that GSOC finalises its own investigation into how information was leaked to The Sunday Times, thereby starting this controversy in the first place. I call on GSOC to finalise the report as a matter of urgency.

It was reported in today's Irish Independent that the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission had to pay Revenue €330,000 because of under payment of taxes. It is important that the commission be asked to explain how this matter has arisen given the level of public disquiet and interest in the story. It is only appropriate that the Members of this House would hear an explanation from the commission of the circumstances that necessitated this significant payment.

Cuireann an faoiseamh atá ar an Seanadóir Mullins maidir le tuarascáil Cooke iontas orm i bhfianaise na ráiteas atá déanta ag an ICCL agus daoine eile ar maidin. The relief shown by Senator Mullins regarding the Cooke report was not shared by others who spoke on the subject this morning. One of the main points of the report is that it is impossible to categorically rule out all possibility of covert surveillance in the three threats identified by Verrimus. It also queried whether GSOC's remit should be confined to the investigation of matters attributable only to the commission of offences by members of the Garda or if it could be considered desirable as a matter of legislative policy that its powers be exercisable in circumstances where an offence is attributable to third parties outside the force. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties issued a strong statement on the issue this morning. The council regards this as an exercise in smoke and mirrors, stating:

Constrained by the terms of reference accorded to him by Government, Judge Cooke has found precisely what it seems to have been preordained that he would find: that it is impossible to rule out categorically all possibility of covert surveillance.

What is striking, however, is that the Judge appears to have made absolutely no independent investigative attempt to establish objectively whether or not surveillance of GSOC by An Garda Síochána had been sought or authorised. It seems that not a single member of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces was interviewed; no examination of the records kept of the use of surveillance equipment by police or military intelligence services took place, nor were the “oversight” activities of the “designated judges” under the relevant legislation subject to any form of review.

The judge appears to have made absolutely no independent investigative attempt to establish objectively whether surveillance of GSOC by An Garda Síochána had been sought or authorised. It seems that not a single member of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces was interviewed. No examination of the records kept of the use of surveillance equipment by police or military intelligence services took place, nor were the oversight activities of the designated judges, under the relevant legislation, subject to any form of review.

There are still very serious questions we need to address. I call on the Leader to facilitate a debate on the Cooke report as soon as possible because we want to get to the bottom of this matter. Instead of a sense of relief we should be looking to see if there is any chance whatsoever that covert surveillance is happening to any arm of our justice system. If so, we need to ensure it is stopped.