Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Rabbitte accused me unfairly of not knowing the number of prisoners last Wednesday morning. I stated in the House that I would know by lunchtime, and I did. He took an unreasonable position. I stated there was no blanket rule, as the advice had been that there was no blanket rule. That is the reason we opposed the case yesterday. We fought the case, the court ruled as it did today in habeas corpus and we lost that case. We did not consider that the same position would apply with regard to seven prisoners who are currently convicted and a case where a prisoner had not been convicted of the offence. As I stated earlier, that case will be fought in the Supreme Court.

With regard to consultation, I can only again outline the system for Deputy Rabbitte who sat at the Cabinet table for a while. In this case, the DPP had the carriage of the case. Under the 1975 Act, the DPP does not discuss these cases, and there is no requirement for him to do so. There is no position where the DPP would discuss an Act. The DPP had carriage of the case and it was taken.

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