Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I tabled this question because the Minister gave me an answer previously which said that there is indeed a confidential recipient but that he could not tell me where he is or what he does.

Did the Minister read the Morris reports? Does he think there is anything more serious than what is contained in those reports? Does he accept what Mr. Justice Morris says, namely, that what he uncovered in Donegal is not particular to that county only? Is it good enough in those circumstances to announce, as his predecessor did last March, that Mr. Brian McCarthy was being appointed as a confidential recipient but then nobody could find out where he was functioning from? I rang the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and was told he was there but when I rang back, I was told they did not know where he was. The Minister has confirmed today that he is in some annexe and not in the principal departmental area.

If I were a conscientious, diligent garda, and there are thousands of them out there, some of whom are demoralised by some of the practices going among a minority of their colleagues, does the Minister think I would go to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to make a complaint? What kind of a whistleblower's confidential recipient may not be accessed by, for example, a Member of this House? What does that do to tackle the illness that Mr. Justice Morris exposed in his reports?

See this speech in context