Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Fine Gael will support the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the tragic and unfortunate circumstances of the death of an inmate in Mountjoy Prison, Mr. Gary Douch. I am sorry, however, that the Minister of State had to lace his speech on such an unfortunate matter with the usual rhetoric of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. He is obliged to do it but the nonsense in the latter part of the speech about the prison building record when, as a result of overcrowding in Mountjoy Prison this inmate was murdered, was distasteful. It was not the appropriate time to give a prejudiced and selective history lesson about the prison building programme.

This Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has put himself out on a limb on many occasions and, unfortunately for him, many of the issues he has spoken about have rebounded on him. In political terms, since he took office in 2002, and the electorate will adjudicate on this in the next three weeks, he will be seen to have presided over a justice system that has experienced a massive increase in murder rates, an inability to tackle gangland drug barons head on and falling crime detection rates. All of the Minister's speeches and rhetoric should be examined in that context.

I did not intend to mention any political matters and that is the only one I will address in response to some of the rubbish supplied to the Minister of State, rubbish that we have had to listen to for five years.

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