White admits ‘surprise’ at lack of notes on Callinan

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Alex White has said that he was ‘surprised’ no notes were taken at a crucial meeting between the Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Department of Justice’s secretary general Brian Purcell on the night before Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan stood down.

Mr White said he didn’t think that anyone should ever be happy when there are no records kept of crucial meetings, as has happened with the Callinan controversy.

‘From what we know about the nature of that meeting, I think events were moving reasonably quickly and it doesn’t surprise me that there wasn’t a detailed note – but it does surprise me that there was no note at all,’ Mr White told Newstalk’s lunchtime show yesterday.

He said it was ‘good practice’ to keep notes, adding that he always does so.

Mr White continued: ‘I think we know blow by blow what happened that day. We should perhaps have known sooner, but now we know it. I think there are certainly lessons to be learned from what occurred on that day – that’s certainly the case.’

‘The fact is that there were conflicting views of the same event and that can often happen. I was a barrister for 20 years and you often see the same event come across differently and people’s recollections of the same meeting or event come across differently.

‘That’s why we asked the judge [Nial Fennelly] to look at this and come to a conclusion based on the evidence that was given to him – and that’s what we have now.

‘I don’t think we should ever feel happy about records no longer being there, but that’s something that has been dealt with by the judge in the report. It’s always better to have the maximum amount of records, whether written or electronic form. If they’re made, they should be kept.

‘I do a keep a note, my own personal note of what happens. Sometimes it isn’t that detailed, because when you’re participating in a meeting – particularly in a meeting where there’s a lot going on and there’s a lot of forward and back interchange – it’s not always easy to, at the same time, take notes yourself, but my own officials would take notes,’ added Mr White.