Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach will understand if I say that after my clinic on Saturday, I had a couple of pints. I tuned in to RTE in the hope it would be a "Michael McDowell-free zone". I turned on the "Tubridy Tonight" show and there he was again.

As a result of the reheated anti-crime package the Minister has launched this evening, will the Taoiseach give an undertaking to this House that we will have an opportunity to examine the elements of the package because it has been the Minister's practice to have amendments printed while the debate is ongoing? We have to take amendments off the top of his head, despite the fact that our citizens are extremely concerned, not just about violent crime among gangland thugs but about anti-social behaviour and violence against the person on our streets. In the past the Minister has not given Members an opportunity to scrutinise amendments when they were brought before the House. He makes them up as the debate continues. Whatever he has announced this evening, what he announced in The Irish Times this morning has been published 12 times already. An opportunity must be given to the House to examine the proposals in the depth they ought to warrant.

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