Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The people would be kept in the loop, not out of it. When the Taoiseach said on election night that when Paddy needed to know, he indicated that he would inform Paddy. Recently, the Taoiseach addressed the public while speaking in the USA and said that if anyone had a suggestion, a question or a problem, that person should call him. He said his numbers were on the public record. I say to the Taoiseach that we have a problem. The people have a problem. Paddy has a problem and Paddy wants to know why, after the whistleblowers fiasco, the GSOC fiasco and the telephone-tapping fiasco, the Taoiseach has not disposed of Deputy Alan Shatter as a Minister. Paddy needs to know and Paddy must know.

I am sure Deputies will be aware of the baseball analogy and the "Three strikes and you are out" rule. While the Government has dropped report cards, new politics and the mantra of a democratic revolution, it has yet to drop the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter. The Fianna Fáil Party has been left with no option but to table this motion. While it may not succeed in its obvious intent, the motion offers the Government an opportunity to answer and to clarify many of the questions arising out of last week's shenanigans in the Taoiseach's office, the Cabinet and this Chamber. I remind Deputies of a comment made by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, at the weekend. In response to a question on the most recent issue to emerge, namely, the practice of taping telephone calls, he stated the issue became significant only when the Attorney General brought it to attention of the Taoiseach on Sunday, 23 March. Is the inference to be drawn from the Minister's statement that everything that had occurred since the previous June was insignificant?

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