The Justice Minister says it has not been established if the offices of the Garda Ombudsman Commission were bugged.

Alan Shatter says an investigation last year at the Dublin offices was routine and uncovered possible vulnerabilities.

He says the gardai themselves have been the subject of "completely baseless innuendo" on the issue in recent days.

Minister Shatter says there is no evidence of bugging.

The issue dominated leaders questions earlier.

GSOC confirmed a security sweep of their offices was conducted from the 23rd to 27th of September 2013 by a UK security firm at a cost of just under €18,000.

That sweep confirmed the existence of "three technical and electronic anomalies", but GSOC said its databases had not been compromised.

It added that "There was no evidence of Garda misconduct. The Commission decided to discontinue the investigation on the basis that no further action was necessary or reasonably practicable".