Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Mr. Travers said there was no written evidence. Surely, if the Tánaiste believes that the documents refer to other matters, she can excise these and still put the documents that relate to this particular issue in the full possession of Members of this House. It simply is not credible. The Tánaiste gave a commitment to the House that she would make these documents available. She subsequently made contact, presumably with Deputy Kenny and certainly with me, to the effect that on the eve of the bank holiday she was not making public two of those documents. If there is a separate matter involved, that should be excised and the documents should be made available. Is the Tánaiste saying that Mr. Travers had full access to all the documents in question? Does she have any explanation as to why a man who was the head of such an important Department can claim never to have read his documents or talked to the Ministers of State at the Department? One Minister of State felt the matter was so serious that he had to talk to the Taoiseach about it, but not to the Minister. Can the Tánaiste offer any rational explanation for that situation? Will she say if the Government committee, established to examine what form redress might take, has met and, if so, how many times and when is it likely that information will be published on what scheme of redress the Government is committed to?

See this speech in context