No Suggestion Garda Tapes Destroyed- Minister

No suggestion garda tapes destroyed- minister

A Cabinet Minister says there is "absolutely no suggestion" that any of the garda tapes have been intentionally destroyed. Joan Burton's comments come amid reports that the Commission of Investigation was set up because Ministers feared that "someone in the guards" wanted them to be erased. Sources within the gardaí deny that's the case and a letter from former Commissioner Martin Callinan to the Department of Justice's top civil servant last month show he asked for advice on what to do with them. Minister Joan Burton says she does not believe there was any intentional effort to destroy the recordings. "There's no suggestion at any time that tapes were destroyed, other than we heard retired gardai saying that in many station - particularly pre-2008 when the system was updated - that when a tape was finished it may have been, as was the common practice then in radio stations, the tape may have been taped over" she said.