It is "simply not the case" that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter knew last year about the system of recording phone calls in Garda stations, he has told the Dáil.

Mr Shatter said he was “not briefed” on the matter until approximately 6 pm on Monday in the Department of Justice. He said he was first furnished with the Garda Commissioner’s letter of March 10th at approximately 12.40 pm yesterday.

He said “what possible advantage would it be to me” not to take action as soon as he read the letter and why would they want to create another Garda controversy. “It was only made known to the Taoiseach on Sunday and to myself on Monday. It’s as simple as that.”

Defending the Attorney General, whose department was made aware of the widespread taping of phone calls last November, he said that while she was made aware of the existence of tapes linked to the proceedings, and the possible existence of other tapes, “I am advised that she had no knowledge at the time of the circumstances surrounding the making of tapes, the legal background to their being made, the contents of such tapes or the number of tapes”.

Opposition TDs laughed at the Minister’s remarks and heckled him when he said “we have been unflinching in our determination to face up to past difficulties”.

He said: “I don’t think any reasonable person could claim with any credibility that there has been any indication on my part or the part of the Government to what has undoubtedly been a series of disturbing issues”.

In a statement to the House following the Government’s surprise decision to establish a commission of inquiry into the practice of recording phone calls, Mr Shatter said the commissioner’s letter referred to phone calls being recorded into and out of a particular Garda station which came to light during civil proceedings being taken by two people against An Garda Síochána in for wrongful arrest and related matters.

The Minister said he was greatly constrained in what he could say because of the case.

Mr Shatter said: “I know that there are reports that I knew of the system of recording in Garda stations last year, but this is simply not the case.”

He stressed that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission report from June last year about a case in Waterford was not notified to his Department or to him.

His department was made aware of the recordings to specific proceedings on February 28th. In the Garda Commissioner’s letter he said the confirmed number of recorded phone tapes since the 1980s, was 2,485.

And he launched an attack on the Opposition, accusing them of “contrived outrage” and said Opposition TDs and some commentators “on first learning of an issue detailed by Government of which they were unaware, feel compelled to accuse those who make the issue known and seek to address it, or telling untruths or some incompetence”.

He said the Ombudsman’s report into a case where a man was assaulted by gardaí in Waterford was a “press release” and not a report to him or his department and there was “no indication or suggestion of any nationwide system of recording in Garda stations”.

Mr Shatter said the system of taping phone calls had been going on for up to 30 years and these issues “far pre-date my tenure as Minister for Justice”.

He said the system, introduced to deal with security issues, bomb threats and coded calls, was replaced in the 1990s and again in 2008. All recordings except those on dedicated 999 calls “were fully stopped nationally on November 27th last year.

Replying at the end of the debate Mr Shatter accused the Opposition of using the Garda to suit their own interests.

He said “I can’t give any more information than I have given to the House”. He said they were serious issues, but he said no opposition had raised the “real concerns about the recordings”, the interests of the criminal justice system, data protection.

As soon as the full details of this issue came to my notice and the Taoiseach’s notice they moved immediately to deal with the issue and to inform the House.

But he said “you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t” and the Opposition was never satisfied with actions taken.