Jim O'Callaghan

speaker
581 appearances 4 recordings 2 series first heard May 2026 last heard 31 Jul

Jim O'Callaghan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months
2 · May OctJan 26AprJulnow

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 2.

Appearances

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The Indo Daily · Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan on migration and Bertie Ahern's controversial comments  · 14 May 2026 podcast
And in terms of your specific question, like, it is the case that the guards did request the army to come in.
The army came in and assisted in Garda Síochána.
Like, had I not announced that, the big question from the media would have been,
Who brought the army?
Why weren't we told about this?
The question afterwards was that people were saying, where is the army?
I know, but I don't control operationally how the Gardaí or the Defence Forces do their work.
I just want to say as well, I think the Gardaí did a very good job in terms of protest.
I fully respect the right of people to protest.
I understand the reason people were protesting.
But what I couldn't do is allow blockades of refineries and our ports to continue.
Because if it was the case that there was no fuel in the petrol stations, if there was no bread on the stands in the supermarkets, like people would legitimately be saying to me, what are you doing?
You're supposed to be the Minister for Justice.
Why aren't the guards clearing this so we can get our products in?
So, like, had I not done anything about it, I think the criticism legitimately would have been much more.
I would have failed in my duty as Minister for Justice.
Like, it's not my job as Minister for Justice to, you know, to be thinking about how is this going to reflect favourably on me or not.
But I just have to say, since the Gardaí had requested the assistance of the Army, I thought it was the right, fair thing and the transparent thing to say it.
I don't have any regrets about it because it was true.
If it's the case to be now that journalists want me not to reveal what's actually happening, that would be surprising.
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