Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I want to raise another and separate dereliction of duty by another Minister. I refer to the subject matter of the Travers report. Will the Taoiseach indicate if the Travers report will be put into the public domain on receipt or kept under cover until after the by-elections? Will he answer clearly whether he still has confidence in the Minister, Deputy Martin, in particular? This must be the biggest debacle in the history of public administration in Ireland. It certainly rivals anything we saw previously. Despite what the Tánaiste has caused to be made public, the Minister, Deputy Martin, blithely sails through it all as if it had nothing to do with him and he carries no responsibility for it.

Whatever the arguments about going back to 1976, is it not the case that, as the Supreme Court judgment has made clear, and the only inference that can be drawn from that judgment was that after the 2001 decision, for political motives, to give medical cards to the over 70s, there was no doubt about the illegality of what the State was doing? That is the only clear inference, and the Minister charged with preparing the legislation to bring in those cards for those over 70 could not but have known about it.

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