Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach is the Head of Government, but he refuses to answer the central question. The Minister has based his justification for what he did on his belief there was a threat to our democratic system and institutions. I and Deputy Kenny asked the Taoiseach what was that threat, but he evaded the answer.

The Tánaiste is on the record as saying that the Centre for Public Inquiry was "sinister and inappropriate". Does the Taoiseach agree? Does he agree that a question of balance must intrude here? The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform took the uncustomary position of putting names into the public domain some time ago in terms of the fight against subversion, something with which I agreed even though it was unusual. However, most people in the House were under the impression that decommissioning had happened and the threat to the State no longer existed. If it does exist, the Taoiseach has an obligation to tell the House what is the information.

If the Minister believes he had a duty to do what he did, why does he not make the full file available to the House and allow us judge for ourselves. We cannot have a system operated on the basis of "Trust me, I know best". Leaving out the personalities, can a citizen who has not been brought before the courts find himself or herself in circumstances where selective use is made of Garda material to undermine that person? The Taoiseach cannot let Question Time, on an issue as fundamental as this, pass without saying why he is so confident in his support of the Minister in the matter of whether there was a threat to the institutions of this State.

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