Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

This borders on the farcical. The original plan to deal with judicial misconduct and standards by this Administration, and its immediate predecessor, was to have a constitutional amendment in mid-2001. The present Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was, I think, Attorney General at that time or shortly thereafter. The referendum was to coincide with the Nice treaty referendum. That proposal was dropped in a fit of pique when it was criticised. I wrote an article on the subject for The Irish Times and the then Minister said he could not proceed with a constitutional amendment unless he had all-party agreement on it. He promised instead to introduce legislation.

The Government's list of legislation published in 2003 promised that the Bill would be published and every declaration, list and response to a parliamentary question since then has promised that it is coming. I have the last two responses to parliamentary questions, in which phrases such as "it is coming", or is "imminent" or "will be approved by Government shortly" or "will be published shortly" are used. The Tánaiste tells us he is in dialogue with the Chief Justice for further comment. He is running out of time. This seamless succession of Administrations has been in office for ten years. This issue has been on the front burner, notionally, since 2001. It is now April 2007 and nothing has been delivered. Dialogues, discussions and analysis to beat the band have happened, with no result. People want results.

We had a brief discussion about some of the matters touching on this issue. Since the events that gave rise to the urgency of this matter in 2001 we have endured the Curtin affair which highlighted the need for legislation in this area. We do not have it. Will the Tánaiste agree that for all his dialogue and promises and discussions he has produced nothing in this area for his tenure in office?

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