Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will have to listen to the arguments and she will have plenty of time to comment on them. In addition to all of that, we have had the constant attempts to impugn the integrity, honesty and competence of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. If one looks at the volume of material he has put on the Statute Book in recent years, as well as the volume of material he will have put on it by the time this Government has completed its work, I have no doubt history will record that he has been an outstanding Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

The question of the victims is a fundamental one to which we should have regard in this debate. I have arranged with the Health Service Executive that official counselling should be available to all victims and their relatives of persons where there is any possibility of a release. The Garda Síochána has communicated to those persons the availability of the HSE for counselling. Earlier today, I contacted the one person and her family who have been affected already — the victim in the Mr. A case — to arrange an appointment with the victim and her mother. It is a fundamental matter in this debate.

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