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

I refer to the education (admission to school) Bill. There seems to be some divergence of views between the Labour Party and Fine Gael with regard to the cap on admissions of sons and daughters of past pupils. Some are proposing a cap of 10% and other parties are proposing a cap of 25%. When will this Bill come before the House?

A little more than four years ago, the House debated the Moriarty tribunal and its findings. The report was referred to An Garda Síochána and to the Director of Public Prosecutions, there being an issue of public interest. Has the Tánaiste any information with regard to the report? Is a file being prepared by the DPP? Can that information be accessed?

When will the criminal procedure Bill be before the House? In other public prosecution services around the world, information is given as to whether a case will proceed and the reasons if it is not to proceed, whereas we are left completely in the dark on an issue of huge public interest. A tribunal was established by the Houses of the Oireachtas to investigate payments to politicians, and four years after its publication, we do not know what is happening with regard to that report. A commitment was made in speeches last week by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste about implementation of the recommendations on lobbying, openness, transparency and accountability and all of that. However, the key issue of accountability will not be addressed until such time as we know what is happening with regard to the completion of investigations by the prosecutorial forces in this country, those being the Garda Síochána and the DPP. Will the Tánaiste assure the House that the criminal procedure Bill will come before it so that we can address this issue of not knowing, in view of the fact that the Taoiseach looked like a scared rabbit when he was asked about Mr. O'Brien yesterday in an interview by the journalist Ann Cahill? He said that what was in the past was in the past. I am sorry, but the past is very much in the future or the present. The Moriarty tribunal is very much in the present, because its report was published four years ago and has not been fully dealt with.

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