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

On the morning of Tuesday, 25 March, the Taoiseach will have faced his Cabinet meeting in the belief that he had solved all his problems and averted an imminent collision with his Labour Party colleagues in government. In any event, the Labour Party Ministers sealed the fate of the Garda Commissioner the previous week when they declined to give him public support. The Taoiseach will have informed the Cabinet that the Garda Commissioner was out of the way and asked if that was agreed. Once agreed, he could tick a box. He will then have stated that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, was to give an apology to save his skin. Having obtained the agreement of his Cabinet colleagues, the Taoiseach could tick another box. He will then have asked for agreement to place on the agenda the issue of establishing a Garda authority because, while not included in the programme for Government, the measure would, given the circumstances, have to be agreed. He could then tick another box. The Taoiseach will then have asked for agreement regarding the establishment of a commission of inquiry, which made an insignificant matter into a very significant matter. Once that was agreed, he could tick another box. He will have asked if his Ministers agreed he was in full and total control of the meeting and, once agreed, he could tick the relevant box. Having replaced the old crisis with a new one and silenced the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who no longer had the podium and the ear of the people, he could tick another box.

This approach succeeded for a few hours until chaos broke out, holes emerged and suspicions were raised. The decision to send the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, to appear on "Prime Time" that night backfired. During the course of that programme, the sure-footed, wise and confident Minister for Finance became the bungling and inept Minister for Health whom we knew from yesteryear. Similar comments made by various Ministers have only added to confusion, notwithstanding their efforts to defend the Taoiseach, Attorney General, Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality and Minister for Justice.

The initial public perception that the issue may have been a conspiracy theory has begun to unravel and a belief is emerging that the real scenario was that one crisis was created to avert another crisis. The policy and manner in which the Government has dealt with this issue have backfired to such an extent that the Labour Party needs to revert to type, as the Minister for Finance did on "Prime Time" last week. This will mean the Labour Party returning to a practice in which it has much form, namely, seeking heads, as the Minister for Education and Skills will attest. Let us see it revert to type. To return to the three strikes and you are out rule, the Minister has had four or five strikes in respect of his handling of various affairs, as highlighted by Deputy Niall Collins. On that basis, the Government must realise that, unfortunately, the Minister is not capable of administering justice in the Department to which he had the privilege of being appointed. I ask that the House confirm this.

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