Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

This is a diabolical way to treat a new young Deputy. Deputy Collins is probably a man of integrity and a sincere young politician, but he is caught up in a system. Someone within the Minister's party made him stand up and do the Minister's dirty work today. Everything he read out, possibly for the first time, made scurrilous accusations and was an absolute disgrace. One of the two men, at least, was present to defend himself but the other was not. Former Deputy Jim Higgins was not present either to defend himself when the Minister was speaking.

The Minister talked about the bigger picture. He has no idea about the bigger picture in County Donegal and no idea what he is talking about. He has no idea who is on the winning side and who is on the losing side. There have been absolutely no winners, past or present, with regard to the Morris tribunal. There have been only losers in terms of everybody being hurt and conspiracy theories for decades.

In years to come we will talk about this event and the events in County Donegal. People will talk about innuendo, allegations and counter allegations. The hallmark of the Morris tribunal is that it completely pinpoints one part of this country in respect of one, two, three or a dozen particular episodes. This has been a period of hurt for many people, for the families involved such as the McBrearty family, the McConnells and their extended family, Richie Barron's family and also the gardaí who ended up being caught up either directly or indirectly and their families, including their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, wives and husbands. This goes to the core of the human level. There is a lot of hurt and I say to the Minister that this is the big picture. It took the Minister until page seven of a 14-page transcript to come up with a bigger picture. That is an absolute disgrace and I will return to that aspect.

The only winners with regard to the entire escapade will be in the future and I welcome that. I also welcome that there are recommendations and there have been some positive outcomes in respect of the Morris tribunal. The Garda Síochána Act and the Garda Ombudsman are a result of the outcome of this investigation. It might appear that €50 million is a lot of money and taxpayers will always question who benefited from that type of investment. What we have had in this country, however, was the tipping point of a Garda mechanism that was not working for our society. It happened to occur in County Donegal but it could have happened in any part of the country. It is not a matter of County Donegal in isolation.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is spending 50% of his time here today but he has no interest in this feedback. He wants to talk now about other issues with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Lenihan. That is how the people perceive him and the Fianna Fáil Party, in any case, but he has no idea of this as he listens. He has no idea what is going on outside the House or how people feel. He does not know how to listen. The Minister may continue talking but he has come into the Chamber and spent seven out of 14 pages attacking two men who came forward with information. Did they have 20-20 vision? Had Deputies Higgins and Howlin 20-20 vision concerning what to do? I was not a politician in this House when they were given that information. Every member of Fianna Fáil has 20-20 vision when the thing is done.

It is an absolute scandal that the Minister has attacked two politicians of integrity. The former Deputy Jim Higgins suffered. He lost his seat arising from the whole situation, possibly for making this move. Perhaps he did the right thing, perhaps it was the wrong thing, but he and Deputy Howlin introduced a mechanism to stop the pain when there were no such mechanisms in place. The Minister has even admitted that he is to set up a new mechanism under the Committee on Procedure and Privileges in respect of how this should be dealt with in future. The Minister admits there was no mechanism in place

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