Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Taoiseach back from New York. That he was absent when such a critical issue was being discussed last week displayed a serious lapse in judgment and a dereliction of duty, which was not good for the interests of the country. I expect he has a speech that he wants to deliver to the House. Before he does so, it should be noted that any proposal he has will be couched from a Government perspective in portraying him as a born again leader, somebody who has suddenly discovered the errors of the Government's ways.

It is critical that the people of the country know to what extent information was available or made available to the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Whatever is to be announced by the Taoiseach, it must fundamentally deal with an independent investigation of how the circumstances of the systems failure which occurred came about.

Before the Taoiseach deals with that, I would like him to inform the House of the numbers of cases which may be affected by the Supreme Court decision of 23 May. Mr. A is back in jail, where he belongs, but the rest of them have not gone away. In the Taoiseach's absence last week, I asked the Tánaiste how many cases were in process under sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the 1935 Act. The Government did not know the answer to the question. I do not know if the Government knows the answer now or if it is not telling us.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform stated that he did not know that the CC case had been taken. That is such a serious admission, it requires a very serious investigation of how it could have happened. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was well aware of the issues surrounding this case and its relevant area. Last December, he stated in the Sunday World that there was an anomaly in the 1935 Act as boys and girls under 17 were treated differently and that he would take expert legal advice on the matter. He told the Irish Independent that the Criminal Justice Bill 2004 would give the Dáil an opportunity to deal with the issue. He told The Irish Times that he was studying the matter. He told the Seanad that there was no point in writing out a solution on the back of a cigarette packet. However, that is exactly what the Government did in section 5 of Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006, which was pointed out in the House last week.

There is a critical need for an independent investigation into how this systems failure occurred. No amount of glossing over that fact will satisfy the people. I have never witnessed such an extent of concern from hundreds of thousands of people, which can only be satisfied if the Taoiseach, however belatedly, sets up an independent investigation into this. We need to know what went wrong and why an issue of this constitutional magnitude was not brought to the attention of the Attorney General, the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Government. What did the Taoiseach and the Cabinet consider over the weekend to sort this out?

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