Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In response to the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, it was not the offence given to Deputy Wallace that night; the bottom line was the offence and the potential issues that arise for the Irish people. It was not just about the Deputy, which was mentioned that night. It was a much broader and more important issue than that. At a time when the State is collecting more and more information on private citizens it is an issue of legitimate public concern and it is proper that the issue would be debated. A full week after the incident the Minister clearly did not fully accept or realise the seriousness of what he did on that evening.

On the revelations Deputy Mattie McGrath first brought into the public domain about the Pembroke Street incident in late 2008 and 2009, there is no suggestion that alcohol was in any way involved, but the one question that remains unanswered is whether the Minister in any way, explicitly or implicitly, invoked the constitutional protection Members of the Oireachtas enjoy travelling to and from Dáil Éireann. The fact is that we now have two very different versions of that event in the public domain. We have the Minister's statements, which we must take in good faith, and we have the story yesterday and today in the Irish Independent, which is very different. The central message is that the Minister was not co-operative with the Garda. I do not know whether to believe that but it was said that the Minister said to the garda on the night, “Don't you know who I am?”, that he did not say he was asthmatic, that he told the garda it was unconstitutional to stop him when he was going from the Dáil and that he said the garda should check the law book.

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