Deputy Collins commented: “Nearly one week on since the publication of the Fennelly Report and there are more questions than answers .There are conflicts between witnesses accounts and we all listened to the somewhat bizarre interview that Deputy Alan Shatter gave yesterday when he stopped short of saying he had confidence in the Attorney General and the Taoiseach.
“While the report is up to 300 pages long it is falls short as the transcripts are not attached .We learnt yesterday that the Attorney General was called back four times by Judge Fennelly and there have been reports that the Taoiseach was also called back.
“What’s even shadier is the fact that the Taoiseach tried to contradict Mr Gilmore’s account of their discussion and then had selective memory loss.
“When the Judge told the Taoiseach about Mr Gilmore’s account he said that “he could not “
recall the accuracy of what he said
” and,
later,
that he could not verify whether they (the words attributed to him by Mr Gilmore) were the actual words that he used. He then returned to the theme of the necessity for him of being able to “
defend and support my confidence in the Commissioner.
”
“Mr Gilmore seems very clear and has the same account as three others who were present the night before whereas the Taoiseach can’t actually remember what he told Mr Gilmore.
The Judge concludes that, “it is significant that, in an entirely different setting, the Taoiseach was speaking to Mr Gilmore (Tuesday 26
th
march) of the issue very much in the same terms as are attributed to him by Mr Fraser, Mr Shatter and Mr Purcell on the evening before”. In order to clear up this confusion it is essential that the transcripts are released, said Deputy Collins.