Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I come back to a question I asked the Minister of State previously and he might do us the courtesy of responding to it fully. Why should the reputation of individuals get priority over the welfare of children? I have previously drawn this matter to the attention of the Minister of State. In order to overcome any legal difficulties with regard to privilege, in 1996 the report into the tragic case of Kelly Fitzgerald was referred to an Oireachtas committee, which then published it. Why can that not be done in this case? To what extent has that option been considered? Does the Minister of State seriously want to stand over the reason for not so proceeding that he gave in a recent Irish Independent article? He said that in the case of the Kelly Fitzgerald report the parents implicated in the report had already pleaded guilty to charges of neglect and the same legal constraint did not apply. Is the Minister of State telling the House that because the parents in that case were convicted of neglect the report could be referred to an Oireachtas committee for publication but because the parents in this case died the report could not be furnished to an Oireachtas committee? Is the Minister of State seriously putting that to us?

I draw to the attention of the Minister of State that the principal recommendation is the provision of the out-of-hours service that the Minister of State has said he would not implement for financial reasons. To what extent can we take seriously any pledge he gives of an intention to implement redacted censored recommendations of which no one in this House has any knowledge?

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