Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have no doubt about that. Mr. O'Driscoll's statement is welcome because it is the first time the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality has acknowledged that failures within the Department were at least partly responsible for the resignation of the former Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald, MEP, who was subsequently exonerated. Like other members, I welcome that. While I agree that we should not focus solely on the failures of the past, one cannot really move forward and embrace change unless one fully acknowledges those failures. I think of Ministers and others who have worked in the Department of Justice and Equality. Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who was a Minister of State within the Department for at least two years, has been scathing in his judgment of the Department's failure.