Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Ceann Comhairle on the remarks he made with regard to the ordering of business for tomorrow. I congratulate him on the way he has attempted to defend the rights of ordinary Members of the House. Since they were introduced, the Friday morning sessions have worked outstandingly well. A great deal of important legislation - introduced by ordinary Members from all parties - has been successfully ventilated in the House. I commend the Ceann Comhairle on defending the rights of ordinary Members in recent times. I refer, in particular, to those Deputies who no longer take the party Whip. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform is present and I am of the view that a key step we could take would be to reform significantly the, in many ways, obnoxious Whip system. It does not matter whether they are members of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Socialist Party or the Labour Party or whether they are Independents, as elected representatives of the people all Deputies have inalienable rights. I hope the successful Friday sessions, without the imposition of the Whip system, will continue.

Will the Tánaiste indicate when it is intended to bring forward the criminal justice (corruption) Bill? In light of the huge recent public interest in reports which appeared in the Sunday Independent over a number of weekends in respect of matters which apparently were not brought to the attention of the Moriarty tribunal, will it be possible for the House to obtain from the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, an update in respect of what is happening in respect of the reports published by the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals last year?

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