Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Those in the media cannot expect to have politicians available to them whenever they want but in a modern democracy, a holder of major public office has no right to hide from interviews, limiting appearances to a Dáil Chamber whose agenda and format is tightly controlled by his Government. Of what is the Minister so afraid? How can we be expected to have confidence in a Minister for Justice and Equality who is now proposing the establishment of a Garda authority which last month he said would be damaging and inappropriate? How can we be expected to have confidence in a Minister for Justice and Equality who attacks and dismisses anyone who raises an inconvenient question?

See this speech in context