Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion. It is incredible that the Fine Gael Party and Labour Party are denying the Fianna Fáil Party the right to pursue its duty of holding the Government to account by tabling motions in Private Members' time. Irrespective of whether we had tabled a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, or a motion on policy, this Private Members' debate presents us with an opportunity to highlight our view on what should be done in the areas of policing and defence.

A number of speakers stated the Minister does not like to play the man but prefers to play the ball. One of the reasons my party decided to table another motion of no confidence in the Minister, having tabled a similar motion in the Seanad in February, long before the incident involving Deputy Wallace and the second incident involving the Minister on Pembroke Road came to light, was that we do not have confidence in the manner in which the Minister performs his duties. He has been confrontational and has undermined rank and file members of the Garda Síochána who work at the coalface delivering policing in our communities. It would be remiss of any Opposition party to fail to table a motion of no confidence in a Minister when gardaí do not have confidence in him. We have an obligation to do so.

While I have had a number of run-ins with the Minister, this motion is not personal in nature. The Minister, however, got personal when, on a "Prime Time" programme, he used confidential information that was passed to him by the Garda Commissioner to denigrate and undermine a citizen and Member of this House. The motion has been successful in that it resulted in the Minister eventually apologising to Deputy Wallace and accepting that his actions were wrong. This apology, of itself, was critically important. We cannot allow a perception to gain ground among members of the public or Members of the Oireachtas that we have a Minister for Justice and Equality who can receive confidential briefings from the Garda Commissioner that could be used at some stage in the future. That the Minister was forced to come to the House and state he does not receive such briefings was sufficient reason to table the motion of no confidence. He accepted his action was wrong and stated that, in hindsight, he would not have done what he did if he had given the matter some thought. It was important that he made that statement.

On the incident that took place on Pembroke Road, the only information in my possession is that which I have read. The easiest way to clear up the matter would be for the Minister to ask the Garda Commissioner to carry out an investigation into the matter and furnish a report on it. The incident took place in 2008 or early 2009 - neither the Minister nor I is sure of the precise date. I am certain, however, that if the Minister were to ask the Garda Commissioner to investigate what took place on the evening in question, the matter would be cleared up quickly. While I do not know if a Garda report was made to the relevant Garda station, I do know the Minister was stopped because he said this himself. He also mentioned that he was coming from the Dáil. The question is whether he invoked Article 15.13 of the Constitution, which was introduced for all the right reasons. These do not include using the article to decline to blow into a breathalyser.

The Minister may shake his head but the article in question was introduced for good reason and should not be used lightly on Pembroke Road to refuse to blow into an intoxilyzer. As I stated, the Minister could clear up this matter quickly by asking the Commissioner to carry out a full investigation, furnish a report to the Minister and present it to the House. If there was not a breach or abuse of privilege under Article 15.13 and no animosity or discourtesy was shown by the Minister to gardaí, that is fine. However, until such time as the matter has been cleared up, these issues will be left hanging. I am not the only person who takes that view. The matter has been reported in national newspapers and sources have supported the allegation that a report was made on the matter. While I do not know if that is the case, the Minister could find out quickly. If there was no report, he could ask the Commissioner to insist on asking the gardaí who were present on Pembroke Road on the night in question to file one.

On the broader issue, earlier we had Fine Gael Party Deputies and even Labour Party Deputies piling in to praise the Minister's reforming capacity in a way that recalled an episode of the "This is Your Life" programme. We all expect Ministers with responsibility for justice and defence to reform continually. The Department of Justice and Equality has a heavy legislative programme and no one can argue that the Minister's predecessors were idle while in the Department.

The Department has churned out a huge amount of legislation in recent years.

The most interesting aspect of the commentary relating to this matter relates to the contribution of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan. I admire the Minister because he is a sort of latter day Churchillian character who has been engaged in saving the country in recent times.

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