Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

There will be a meeting at midnight of senior mandarins in his Department because of the remarks I made, which were not attacking the official, whom I did not name. The official said that the Department is dysfunctional. I can read it out again if the Minister wishes. That was the import of what he said. The proposition that the paper can be quoted in learned journals on criminology but that a Member cannot say what was in it and ask the Minister to respond is untenable. Instead, the Minister gave me a lecture on the inappropriateness of my mentioning that in the House. I meant no attack on the official concerned or the officials in the Department. It is clear that they are so preoccupied firefighting that they have no time to devote to policy formulation. That was the point we were making.

I refer to the juggernaut purchased by Mr. McDowell, driven a bit along the road by the Minister's predecessor, and driven into the loading bay by the Minister. That the Minister was not prepared to engage with advocates of penal reform or this House and has pushed it through to finality seems to bear out what the assistant secretary concerned said. I was saying that and no more.

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