MINISTER FOR JUSTICE Alan Shatter has been asked what he knew about the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder case after new allegations emerged today.
Reports today suggested that at least one key witness in the unsolved murder was recorded while on the phone to gardaí.
The Sunday Times reports that ‘hundreds’ of telephone conversations were secretly recorded as part of the garda investigation by a system installed at Bandon garda station.
RTE reports that Martin Callinan, who retired as Garda Commissioner on Tuesday, wrote to Alan Shatter about the recordings on 10 March.
Sophie Toscan du Plantier was a French film producer who was killed in west Cork in 1996. Journalist Ian Bailey was arrested twice by gardaí but no charges were ever brought against him and he has always denied any involvement in the killing. Bailey is going to court to pursue a civil action against the State for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment, among other things.
Sinn Féin TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has said that Alan Shatter needs to make an immediate statement clarifying his role in the case in recent years, particularly after he consulted with the Attorney General over the decision not to extradite Ian Bailey to France over the case.
He also questioned when the Attorney General became aware of the taped phone calls and if she informed the Minister.
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