Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

One simply cannot do that. Having privilege in this House is unique. It is something we should take very seriously. I will not go through the record of the Minister, Deputy Shatter. Enough speakers have done that. However, as was said to me during the week, the Minister was in a studio in the heat of an argument, as we all are from time to time, and he said something which he now clearly regrets. Many a Minister for justice did not do that, but leaked information to the press instead so that a hatchet job could be done on a person. To a great extent, this was as honest as one is going to get in regard to the Minister for justice.

We must remember that the Minister, Deputy Shatter, has taken on vested interests in his own area. He has challenged sacred cows and put legislation in place to that effect. I am not present to tell the House that the Minister works from 6 a.m. in the morning onwards. To return to Deputy Wallace’s closing remarks, the majority of people in this country realise the condition the country is in, but they know, equally, that there are far more important issues that we should be discussing. As I said, there is nothing worse than for someone to be offended on one’s behalf. Deputy Wallace would not have gone to these extremes in order to vindicate his position.

See this speech in context