The Justice Minister has sacked the man he appointed in the gardaí for whistleblowers to go to with their concerns.

Oliver Connolly was officially "relieved of his duties" after it emerged he had warned a whistleblower that Alan Shatter would finish him if he thought he was being screwed.

Maurice McCabe was issued the warning when he went to report his concerns about the quashing of penalty points.

Mr. Connolly - who made a donation to the 2007 election campaign of Alan Shatter - was appointed to the post of 'Confidential Recipient' in the gardaí in 2011.

Enda Kenny revealed in the Dáil he had been sacked after all the revelations.

It comes as Justice Minister Alan Shatter appears before an Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight over the alleged bugging at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) offices.

Answering to the Committee, the Justice Minister rejected claims he's too close to the Garda Commissioner.

He's again insisted there's no evidence of surveillance, but a judge needs to decide between two reports - one saying there was no definitive evidence of bugging, the other saying there was none at all.

And Mr Shatter says he's been the subject of "political attack":