Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am very perturbed by the information given by the Taoiseach this morning in respect of the 42 cases pending under section 1(1) and 12 cases pending under section 2(1) of the 1935 Act. That is a total of 54 cases. On seven different occasions in the House, we asked for this information but it was not provided. It was only when Deputy Rabbitte and myself wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions that the Taoiseach came into the House today and gave us this information. This is of the utmost seriousness.

Based on what the Taoiseach said this morning, how many of these 54 cases have had charges against them dropped since 23 May because section 1(1) and section 2(1) of the 1935 Act are no longer in force? How many cases, in which these charges have been dropped, have had other charges brought against them? The sense of outrage palpable throughout the country in the past month will surface again because this is truly extraordinary. Why was the Taoiseach not able to provide this information on seven different occasions in the past?

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