Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach misunderstands that parents are not interested in a dissertation on criminal law or the contents of the 1990 Law Reform Commission report. They want to know if their children will be safe this weekend.

It is not right to give us a lecture either on the separation of powers between the Supreme Court and this House. The Attorney General does not defend a constitutional action without taking instructions from the line Department and the Attorney General knew in doing so that he might lose the case. Why was no effort made to anticipate the situation if the relevant section was struck down?

Last Thursday I said to the Taoiseach "Quite clearly, if an offence is deemed unconstitutional, the trial and conviction are invalid, as is the subsequent imprisonment". One did not have to be a practising senior counsel to know that was the situation. The Taoiseach told this House in reply that there is no question of people walking free. The situation has turned out otherwise and it seems the Taoiseach does not appreciate its gravity as far as parents are concerned or the gravity of the situation for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and for this Government.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in his weekly appearance on "Today with Pat Kenny", told parents that the Supreme Court decision "is not the gaping void that some people are arguing". Now we know that it is, and there is no point in confusing the past with the future. The past has happened. What we need to do now is protect young people in the future, starting immediately. If the Taoiseach thinks he can fly away to America tomorrow morning and avoid Leaders' Questions and, more disgracefully, put this House into recess for ten days, he really has lost touch with the people of this country because this House, particularly this side of the House, will not tolerate circumstances where an issue like this confronts the parents of this country while he puts this House into recess. That is simply not acceptable.

The Taoiseach's Government has made many mistakes. He has wasted much money. He has bought machines that do not work and he has bought computer systems that do not work, but this is about the protection of our children. This is materially different in character and to confuse and obfuscate about whether there is aggression involved or whether there are other aspects of the criminal law that might be invoked for offences that might be committed tonight, tomorrow night or at the weekend is not dealing with the issue that concerns people.

We published a Bill on this area. The Bill is available to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he wants to take it on board.

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