Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

How long does the Minister intend continuing to tell the House that it is an interim report? This matter happened on 31 July last year. How long does the Minister think he needs in order to come in here and outline plain facts about this case? I ask him to stop sheltering behind the ombudsman commission. If he is not sheltering behind the skirts of the ombudsman commission he is sheltering behind the Minister for Transport. The bare facts are that this person was found red-handed in possession of £1.7 million worth of drugs and the charge was dropped. A nolle prosequi was entered on the last day of the court term without notice to the court. How can the Minister explain that? He has just said the drugs trafficking trade is a large component of the driving of the phenomenon of gangland crime. How could a convicted drugs importer get an international licence to import death into this country, despite his convictions? The Minister comes in here as the man responsible for the Garda Síochána and says to us the matter is with the ombudsman commission or the Minister for Transport. People are in disbelief that somebody with three serious convictions and then caught red-handed in possession of a huge consignment of drugs had the charges dropped. Now somebody is covering up for him and issuing a licence to him to repeat the performance. I find this beyond belief.

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