Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has insisted that no State bodies were authorised to carry out surveillance on the Garda Ombudsman headquarters.
Minister Gilmore said that he is confident that any potential surveillance on the commission's headquarters was not carried out by an agency of the State.
In the Dáil this lunchtime, the Opposition parties demanded an assurance that the State itself had put GSOC under surveillance.
The Tánaiste denied that he was dodging the question, and eventually gave TDs a firm assurance.
"I've answered the question," he said.
"The question you answered (sic) is: 'Am I satisfied that any or no organ of the State put the Garda Ombudsman's Commission under surveillance.
"Yes, I am."