Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I intend to share time with Deputies Ó Snodaigh and Finian McGrath.

The events of the past few days have a dangerous similarity to Senator McCarthy's witch-hunts in the United States in the 1950s. Demagoguery, arrogance and innuendo were used then to destroy people's careers and they are being used to the same ends by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform today. There is a touch of Senator McCarthy about the Minister, Deputy McDowell. The Minister's actions and allegations have compromised the separation of powers that has underpinned this State since its foundation. He has undermined the gardaí and the Director of Public Prosecutions and he has failed to clarify today how the interests of the State were or are threatened by an individual.

If he did not get that information from Garda files, where did he get it? Perhaps the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, has questions to answer regarding whether he handed over information from the passports section to the Minister, and perhaps he should clarify what he knew and what questions he was asked. He should offer a statement to the House too. It is worth remembering that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, introduced amendments to the Garda Síochána Bill 2004 that would jail a garda for up to five years if he or she had put information into the public domain; yet the Minister, through his actions, has politicised the judicial process and undermined democracy in this State. At this point, he should resign.

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