Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

——remarked that it would be difficult for persons reading themselves into the case to make sense of the issues without sight of the papers. That was the position. The Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform were all concerned, but there were cases pending and this could not simply be ignored. That was the issue.

In the light of the controversy that was growing, in the summer of 2001 the then Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, sought the Attorney General's advice about the options that were open to him. He got a quick reply which said the Attorney General could not make a judgment on that until he saw the full Carty report. That was in June. In November the DPP was saying the same thing.

To try to paint the picture now that the Attorney General and the DPP had the full Carty report, as some Members maintain, when the fact is that they did not and two officers of the State——

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