Defiant Helen McEntee yesterday insisted she was not going to consider resigning in the face of mounting political pressure - and refused to answer whether she had been incompetent or part of a cover-up in her handling of Garda whistleblowers' protected disclosures when Justice Minister
She also told a press conference that she is refusing opposition requests to go into Dáil Éireann to explain her role in claims that she took a confidential protected disclosure about the gardaí by Superintendent Brian O’Reilly and sent it to the gardaí against whom he was whistleblowing.
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he → insist → whom
Labour TD Alan Kelly told the Dáil last week that in doing so she said she had ‘acted without legal authority’ and that her actions would ‘haunt’ the Coalition.
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actions → tell → Coalition
The Irish Mail on Sunday revealed last year then Justice Minister McEntee’s alleged mishandling of Superintendent O’Reilly’s protected disclosure and a second, similar incident involving a Garda whistleblower, who received an apology for the disclosure of his personal information.
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who → reveal → information
A press conference attended by three Fine Gael Ministers yesterday was dominated by a barrage of media questions to an increasingly defensive Helen McEntee about her actions as a Justice Minister and the Government’s treatment of Garda whistleblowers.
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conference → attend → whistleblowers
Defiant Helen McEntee yesterday insisted she was not going to consider resigning
Cabinet colleagues have told the MoS that they are becoming increasingly angry that Ms McEntee’s controversial time at the Department of Justice between 2020 and 2024 has caused a major political row from the first day of the new Dáil session.
There is a concession from Cabinet colleagues that if the controversy continues – which it is likely to – there will be a requirement for a ‘political head’.
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it → insist → head
However, when asked by the Irish Mail on Sunday yesterday whether she was considering resigning, Ms McEntee replied: ‘No, I’m not considering my position.’
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I → ask → position
Criticism of her handling of confidential information to do primarily with the killing of Detective Garda Colm Horkan, was put to Ms McEntee.
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Criticism → do → McEntee
Minister McEntee was asked whether her actions were incompetence, as Alan Kelly said in the Dáil, or whether there some form of cover-up.
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Kelly → ask → up
Labour TD Alan Kelly told the Dáil last week that in doing so she said she had ‘acted without legal authority’ and that her actions would ‘haunt’ the Coalition
She replied: ‘Firstly, I think it’s quite ironic that a claim can be made by Deputy Kelly, knowing full well that the legislation that his former party leader introduced, that he supported, makes it very clear that as representatives, we can’t talk about protected disclosures.’
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we → tell → disclosures
Throughout intense questioning, Ms McEntee repeatedly fell back on her claim that she could not comment on protected disclosures, even when it was clarified that she was being asked about her actions in revealing the whistleblowers details.
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she → fall → details
Pressed whether she was incompetent or ‘whether something else was going on’ she ignored the question: ‘So, I adhere to the law.’
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I → press → law
Asked yesterday by the MoS if he was standing by his minister after the week’s events, FG leader and Tánaiste Simon Harris said: ‘I have made that very clear.’
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that → ask → events
Separately, Ms McEntee declined to back a public inquiry into the revelations published by the MoS over three years.
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McEntee → decline → years
The Department of Justice yesterday confirmed that there would be no inquiry, but Government sources acknowledged to the Mail that the ‘controversy is only beginning, not ending’.
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controversy → confirm → Mail
There was ‘surprise’ last night at the top of Government that Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan had ruled out a public inquiry into the whistleblowers ‘so quickly and without consultation.
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O’Callaghan → be → consultation
‘It just seems like Jim’s political judgement is often very bad,’ said a Cabinet colleague after Mr O’Callaghan yesterday ruled out an inquiry into the matter, ‘if it was me I wouldn’t categorically rule anything out when it could be kept open as an option.
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it → seem → option
It leaves you boxed in.
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It → leave → you
‘There wasn’t consultation across the Government on this, I certainly wasn’t consulted, so why do it so rapidly?
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it → be → this
‘God knows, when this plays out a bit more maybe it is actually a better option for us in the long run.
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it → know → run
And if we decide to have an inquiry – there are of course more senior decision makers in Government than Jim O’Callaghan – then Jim is going to look pretty stupid,’ they said.
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they → decide → O’Callaghan
Asked yesterday by the MoS if he was standing by his minister after the week’s events, FG leader and Tánaiste Simon Harris said: ‘I have made that very clear’
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that → ask → events
Cabinet colleagues also defended Ms McEntee, pointing out that a lot of the revelations the MoS has published on the whistleblower matter have come during Mr O’Callaghan’s time as Justice Minister.
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MoS → defend → Minister
A Cabinet source said: ‘Jim O’Callaghan is Minister for Justice for nearly two years now, where is he in all of this?
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he → say → this
What action has he taken on the gardaí?
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he → take → gardaí
These controversies expand quickly so let’s see where he’s at on it in the coming days.’
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he → expand → days
Despite Ms McEntee’s stonewalling yesterday and the dreaded vote of confidence from her leader, there is acceptance at the top of the Coalition that she is ‘deeply damaged’.
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she → dread → Coalition
Particularly in the Fianna Fáil half of the Coalition, there has long been a belief that Ms McEntee’s time at the Department of Justice would ‘come back to haunt her’.
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time → come → her
Fianna Fáil singled her and her Justice policies out for attack during the 2024 General Election.
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Fáil → single → Election
In a pre-election interview with the MoS, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin carried out a thinly veiled attack on Ms McEntee by saying that his party wanted the Justice portfolio after the election, where they would make Irish cities ‘safe’ again.
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cities → carry → election
A Cabinet source said last night: ‘And you’ll recall that McEntee one of the first items of agreement on the reformation of the Coalition, and that she would be removed from the Department of Justice.
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she → say → Justice
‘Listen, the best of operators have struggled in that Department, and she is not the best of operators.
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she → listen → operators
The swamp that is the Department of Justice is dragging her back down.
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that → drag → her
‘Her pedestrian Dáil and media performances aren’t helping this and there is only a certain timeframe for a minister causing what is commonly known as distraction,’ the source said.
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source → help → distraction
Already existent scepticism about Ms McEntee’s performance as a minister has accelerated in the Coalition since the whistleblowers controversy re-emerged.
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controversy → accelerate → Coalition
The Department of Justice, the gardaí and Fiosrú had all launched various levels of investigations into the issue of allegedly substandard holsters for Garda firearms after, three years ago, the MoS revealed protected disclosures were made about their dangers.
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disclosures → launch → dangers
The MoS has published a series of articles where two gardaí – one a senior serving officer – had warned that non-regulation leather holsters could either discharge accidentally or be taken by an assailant.
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holsters → publish → assailant
In 2023 we revealed that a young garda had made disclosures in 2019 to Garda management and Fiosrú about these dangers.
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garda → reveal → dangers
In 2023 we revealed that a young garda had made disclosures in 2019 to Garda management and Fiosrú about these dangers
In June 2020, in the space of a week, one garda suffered life-changing injuries when his gun accidentally discharged and an assailant took a Sig Sauer firearm from Detective Garda Colm Horkan and shot him dead.
Subsequent protected disclosures, first made public by the MoS in 2025 revealed the corroboration of many of these claims about holsters and also about grave concerns about the arrest of three young men, one of whom was Evan Fitzgerald, who shot himself.
Superintendent Brian O’Reilly, in 2022, made a confidential protected disclosure to then justice minister Helen McEntee, which ‘impugned’ then Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.
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which → reveal → Harris
It was decided by Ms McEntee to pass the protected disclosure to her secretary general, who passed the protected disclosure to the gardaí.
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who → decide → gardaí
At Leader’s Questions in the Dáil last Thursday, Labour Deputy Alan Kelly – who has also pursued the cause of the whistleblowers in the Dáil – criticised the Department of Justice for its management of whistleblowers.
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who → pursue → whistleblowers
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
