Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Labour Party will not agree to any proposal relating to today's business until we have an assurance from the Tánaiste that the report from the McCarthy group will be published and until she is in a position to tell us when it will be published. The weekend before last, almost every newspaper carried the story that the McCarthy report would be available to Government last week. I assume those stories were on the basis of briefings from Government but the Government has now contrived not to receive the McCarthy report until the Taoiseach is no longer in a position to answer questions on it in the House.

Within hours of the Taoiseach taking his last Leaders' Questions before the summer recess the Government conveniently received the McCarthy report. We need to know whether it will be published and, if so, when. I heard Deputy Mary O'Rourke on the radio this morning and I feel I speak for the majority of Members of the House when I say the report should be published.

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