Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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He is, and we are all entitled to say what we wish, within the boundaries of the law and decency. The difficulty is that the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, is sited within his Department. In that regard, are we setting ourselves up for a position whereby, as we consider matters in the Department of Justice and Equality, for example, that it is okay for the Minister to come out with a statement rather than in an off-the-cuff manner?

This was deliberate. This was a decision made by the Minister of State to put this into the public domain to question the bona fides of the work of the committee and the standard of work of the committee, and essentially, to say to us very publicly to back off. That is what this statement is all about. That is problematic. Notwithstanding we all enjoy our freedom of speech, that is problematic from the point of view of the Oireachtas.