Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support the Minister for Justice, Deputy Alan Shatter, with the full confidence I know to exist in this House and in the country at large. In my office I was listening to Deputy Mattie McGrath, who unfortunately is not present in the Chamber just now. The Deputy said this was the gravest and most serious issue - is he for real? The idea that this issue is the gravest and most serious issue facing the country right now is ridulous, as is the fact that Private Members' time on both Tuesday and Wednesday had to be dedicated to this trivial issue.

I also heard the Deputy claim that he "knew" the Minister had used parliamentary privilege. This is the same man who gets his sources from people hanging around Pembroke Street outside allegedly "pretty" bars, at some date between 2008 and 2011. He could not get that date right. I understand he also claimed there was a Garda file on this incident but we have not yet seen it. This is a Deputy who, as I understand it, opposes the Road Traffic Act 2001, one of the outcomes of which was to lower the alcohol limit in terms of road testing. On that occasion, in one memorable contribution, Deputy McGrath suggested that drink was a sedative. In public he stated, "It can make people who are jumpy on the road or nervous be more relaxed". He should follow his own prescription.

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