Brian Purcell, secretary general of the Department of Justice, arrived into last night's meeting of the Oireachtas all-party Committee on Justice under considerable pressure.

The two other most senior figures in the justice system – former minister Alan Shatter and former commissioner Martin Callinan – have already fallen on their swords. There is one commission of inquiry under way. Another one is imminent.

The department which Purcell heads was the subject of substantial criticism in the Guerin Report, which concluded that there were inadequacies in the manner in which it responded to serious allegations made by Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

In the early stages of the hearing, especially as he read out the legal small print in his pre-prepared statement, it appeared that Purcell’s appearance would be an exercise in stonewalling.

He made it clear he wasn’t going to say anything that touched on the terms of the Fennelly commission, which is looking into the recording of telephone calls into and out of Garda stations. One term relates to Purcell being asked by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to call to Callinan’s home to impress on him the gravity of the situation. He said it was the only time he called to the house, but no more would he say.

Prejudice

He said he was also “very concerned” about not saying anything that would prejudice the commission that has not yet been set up looking at McCabe’s allegations.

When he said that, there were outcries from members of the committee, including Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins, Finian McGrath, who accused him of stonewalling the committee, and Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn who portrayed it as a farce.

But they were a little premature. Over the course of three hours Purcell went into considerable detail about his and his department’s handling of the McCabe allegations. His responses may not have satisfied all committee members but they were comprehensive, as McGrath acknowledged.

There were a couple of themes. There were concessions. He apologised to the whistleblowers. He said there were shortcomings, and the arrangements for dealing with whistleblowers were not “fit for purpose”.

But that acknowledgment pointed to the failings of the 2005 Act and the 2007 regulations that set up the office of the confidential recipient and the anomaly whereby a garda making a complaint against another garda had no choice but to have that complaint investigated by a Garda colleague and not by an independent body or person.

But as to the response of the department to McCabe’s allegations, there was a full defence. He said that much of the criticism of the department was not “well founded”.

He also took issue with the core conclusions of the Guerin report which found that the department had not carried out adequate independent analysis of McCabe’s dossiers, had relied wholly on the version supplied by the gardaí, and had not pursued its options under two sections of law to initiate investigations.

Briefings

Purcell said that what Guerin found to be an absence or inadequacy of analysis was attributable to inadequate record-keeping rather than inadequate advice. He said that oral briefings to the minister were not reflected in Guerin.

He also said there was full appreciation and awareness of the McCabe allegations going back to 2012. The fact they were investigated by assistant and deputy Garda commissioners and by the confidential recipient, that they were referred to GSOC, that a file had been sent to the DPP and that later they were referred to Oireachtas committees and to the inspectorate showed engagement rather than avoidance.