Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Niall Collins for tabling the motion and for giving the House the opportunity to discuss this matter. We have the usual sniffy response from Government to the effect that we are wasting time discussing what is, in its view, a minor issue. As Deputy Kelleher stated, what we witnessed earlier was similar to an episode of "This is Your Life". In light of the paucity of Labour Deputies in the House, however, we are awaiting the arrival not of the red book but rather of the blue book detailing the Minister's achievements.

The abuse of confidential information by a Minister for Justice and Equality is an issue which must be discussed by Dáil Éireann and judgment must be passed. The happenings in Pembroke Street also need to be debated in the House. I have no intention of criticising the Minister's work record. He has worked hard and realised some substantial achievements since entering office. However, the full list of those achievements as outlined in the Government's amendments is about as believable as some of the Minister's fiction. Being hard-working does not necessarily always equate to being effective. I cite the Minister's performance on the Legal Services Regulation Bill as a case in point. That Bill was introduced in December 2011 but as a result of his taking personal charge of matters, its passage through the Houses has not proceeded. I am aware that consultations are taking place with interested bodies but no reports of progress have been provided to the House.

During my time shadowing the Minister I saw two Deputy Shatters. For many people, it is difficult enough to be obliged to deal with just one. As Deputy Stanton stated, there is a Deputy Shatter who, when dealing with legislation before select committees, can be very generous with both is legal knowledge and political experience. During our time opposite each other, the Minister was accommodating in the context of amendments. If he could not accept them, he dealt with them in a civil fashion, pointed out the legal position and gave guidance on how to pursue the matters to which they related in other ways. He always briefed us on issues of security importance and made the officials of his Department available to assist us in debating legislation he was introducing. That was welcome. When he dealt with uncontentious parliamentary questions, the Minister could be interesting and even funny and witty.

There is, however, another Deputy Shatter. I refer to the one who cannot resist an audience. It is the Deputy Shatter who must punch the man who might disagree with him rather than dealing with the issue. In the words of one of his supporters - I refer to Deputy Lowry who, I gather, is going to vote confidence in the Minister - he is irritatingly dismissive and brash. That is the side of the Minister's personality which has brought us here this evening. It is also the side of his personality which led him to treat the confidential information he had on Deputy Wallace in such a contemptuous fashion and to use it on a live programme on national television in order to score a political point. If we are to assume that he, as Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence, is in receipt of confidential information on a daily basis, it is also fair to assume that there has been a breach of trust between him and the Garda Commissioner in respect of such information. In future, the Garda Commissioner is going to be obliged to ask himself whether the Minister is going to use any information provided to him - perhaps on live television - in order to score political points. One could not blame him for doing so. Regardless of what the choir behind him states, the essential bond of trust that exists between the Minister and the Garda Commissioner - and between the Minister for Defence and the Chief of Staff for that matter - has been broken. For that reason alone, we cannot continue to have confidence in the Minister.

Yesterday and again today, the Irish Independent published very detailed allegations and an in-depth account with regard to what is supposed to have happened on Pembroke Street on a particular evening. Some of those in the choir behind the Minister have been asking if any of us on this side were present when he was stopped that night. I was not there. The only people present were the Minister and a number of gardaí. However, somebody feeding information to the Irish Independent seems to think that they were there. In the context of a speech which ran to nine pages and in which he listed all his achievements - the only line the Minister missed out on delivering was that on the seventh day he rested-----

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