Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The admission, or mea culpa, made by the Taoiseach a moment ago goes well beyond the man with two pints in his hand, the Army protecting the ATM machines or the people ringing up the Department of the Taoiseach to tell it how great the budget was. It goes well beyond that. Let us quote what the Taoiseach said on "This Week" on Sunday. He said:

Minister Zappone, who is doing a very good job, did tell me that she intended to meet with Sergeant McCabe in a private capacity. That's all I knew. I said to her "well if you do have a meeting make sure that you have a thorough account of it."

That is not some slightly inaccurate remembrance of his conversation with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. It is a completely inaccurate statement. He has said that this conversation did not take place. How could he remember it in such detail if it did not take place? It is a central untruth and the reason it matters is because it means that at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Taoiseach knew about Tusla and did not brief the Cabinet and it means that he consciously did not include it in the terms of reference and that he misled the public on RTE.

Having admitted that moments ago, how can he now continue as Taoiseach? It is not the only matter of fact on which there is a difference. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael can agree that the difference between the Tánaiste and Deputy Jim O'Callaghan does not really matter now. However, it does matter. It matters because one of them is telling the truth and the other one is not. If Deputy O'Callaghan is telling the truth, that means the Tánaiste misled the Dáil on Thursday.

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