Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach claimed he did not want to go back over the events and then he did just that. He knows well the events are not just disputed by me but by persons outside of the House. He also knows the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform had possession of this information going back to 2002. I am not interested in tracing the history of it. What happened, happened and we are looking forward with great interest to reading the full judgment of the Supreme Court. I want answers from the Taoiseach on the question of the all-party committee.

Is the committee to be established on a statutory basis? Will a motion be put to the House before it rises for the summer recess? Why is the Government prepared to agree terms of reference with the Opposition on nearly all matters except an independent inquiry into what went wrong? The administration and oversight of the criminal justice system, especially in so far as it relates to our children, is of such importance that we need to know what happened. Scapegoating an official in the Office of the Attorney General is not adequate given the crisis provoked by the series of events. My first preference would be not to have a commission of investigation style inquiry if it could be done by parliamentary committee.

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