Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I would love to be able to ask the Taoiseach why Ireland has just been referred to the European Court of Justice for a breach of the water framework directive. I would love to ask him about the national planning framework, which is, as the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, stated, the most important thing that can be done in the lifetime of this Government. However, I cannot ask these questions because I must ask questions about the Maurice McCabe case, which goes to the heart of whether the Government can function and whether we have trust in it. If something can be done to one, it means it can be done to all. This goes to the heart of confidence in our democratic republic and constitutional system.

In that regard, rather than concentrating on who said what to whom, we need to concentrate on specific issues to ensure this does not happen again. I understand a meeting of justice spokespersons to discuss the framing of the tribunal of inquiry's terms of reference has been postponed. Will the Taoiseach provide a timeline for reaching agreement in the House on the terms of reference? He stated the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality is considering whether other whistleblowers should be included in the tribunal of inquiry. What is the Taoiseach's opinion on whether the terms of reference should be extended to include other whistleblowers who are alleged to have suffered the same type of smear campaign?

Does the Taoiseach believe the tribunal of inquiry should be fully transparent? We all agree with Maurice McCabe that we should not return to the O'Higgins version where an inquiry is carried out in private in an adversarial manner. Can we make the tribunal of inquiry fully transparent by broadcasting proceedings on the web, on television or by other means? If so, how will the protection of journalistic sources be protected given that, at the heart of this story, we will have to arrive at an understanding as to who contacted whom among the Garda, the journalistic profession and Members of the House? Deputy McGuinness inferred last night that everyone knew, including the dogs on the street. That is not the case. We need to find out the truth in terms of who knew and who was telling whom. The cornerstone of this case was a smear campaign and we need to work to find out who contacted whom to create that smear campaign.

I do not know from where Deputy Mick Wallace got his sources but he read out a document in which he set out that such-and-such a garda texted someone else and another individual e-mailed someone else. This is the level of forensic inquiry we will need. If the tribunal of inquiry is to be transparent, as it should be, how will we agree terms of reference to provide for transparency and allow all our correspondence, mobile telephone and e-mail records to be made accessible? This is as much an issue for the journalistic profession as for Members.

I am concerned that it may be difficult to complete this process this week. Part of the problem is that we constantly rush through stuff without thinking it through or working it out properly. Will we be able to reach agreement this week? Will the Taoiseach provide an approximate timeline setting out how long the tribunal of inquiry will take? We must avoid the fate of previous tribunals which lasted for years and cost hundreds of millions of euro.

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