Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, who I am glad is here to listen to me, stated, "Deputy Kenny will bring to the office of the Taoiseach integrity, honesty and a work rate which simply cannot be surpassed". The Fennelly commission raises serious questions surrounding the first two characteristics. The massive failings of the Government on health, housing and Northern Ireland would raise serious questions on the third.

On being successfully elected as Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny stated in the House that we stand on the threshold of fundamental change, namely, that of renewal of what political leadership in Ireland should be about, leadership that cherishes responsibility, public duty and conscience over convenience. Does the Taoiseach think the former Commissioner, Martin Callinan, would agree this is a Government of conscience over convenience?

The so-called democratic revolution has given way to a democratic revulsion as to how the Government conducts its business. We have witnessed a total failure to reform the political institutions of our State as witnessed in the Fennelly report. If anything, we have seen the people's trust in our political institutions fall even further under the watch of the Government. Stroke politics, cynical politics and politics for the elite are practised by Fine Gael and the Labour Party instead of the new politics they promised us after the election in 2011. The biggest disappointment of the Government is its failure to learn from mistakes of the past and deliver on its promises for the future. This is on what the people will judge it. This is what will be its undoing.

It is noteworthy that during his statement today in opening this motion of confidence in himself and the Government, the Taoiseach never once referred to the public comments, reported in the press, of the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, who described the Taoiseach's evidence as fantasy. These were his words and they have been reported. They have not been refuted by anybody. The Taoiseach also failed to address categorically the fact the Attorney General had to alter substantially and change her evidence to the Fennelly commission. Having read the report, as many others have, it has many stand-out moments which the Taoiseach glossed over and failed to record. I will record this, which is a direct quote from page 270, paragraph 8.14. The judge stated:

The Commission has already found that the message delivered by Mr. Purcell in all the attendant circumstances in explicit contemplation of the risk that at the next day's Cabinet meeting the Taoiseach might possibly not be able to express confidence in him, carried with it the obvious implication that the Commissioner's own position was in question. Accepting the Taoiseach assurances ... that he did not intend to put pressure on the Commissioner to retire nonetheless viewed objectively Mr. Purcell's mission was likely to be interpreted as doing just that.

These are the words of the retired Supreme Court judge whom the Taoiseach has quoted to us today and it is on the record.

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