Illegally Dumped Department of Justice Files

By Joe Higgins, TD

* Dáil Questions Tabled to Minister for Justice On Why Police Service of Northern Ireland Sent to Home of Journalist

* Cullen Asked to State Government Policy on Disposal of Waste by Government Departments

I have tabled Dáil questions to the Minister for Justice concerning the files from his Department found in an illegal dump in Co. Tyrone. I am asking the Minister to explain how those files found their way onto this dump.

It would be extraordinary if the Department of Justice is using private waste contractors to dispose of sensitive documents and quite scandalous if such contractors were placing material removed from the Department in an illegal dump.

I am also asking the Minister to explain why the PSNI were sent to the home of the journalist who found the documents, Mr. Anton McCabe.

The discovery of the files also poses a major question about the disposal of waste by Government Departments to Minister for the Environment, Mr. Cullen.

That paper files from a Government Department should be found in a landfill raises not only a question of the treatment of confidential documents but demands an explanation as to why this paper wasn't recycled instead, as is supposed to be Government policy.

I have tabled a Dáil question to Minister Cullen asking him to state Government policy on disposal of waste by Government Departments.

For further information, contact Joe Higgins T.D. at (01) 6183038
Email: joe.higgins@oireachtas.irlgov.ie