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

On a point of order, during Leaders' Questions, I invited the Taoiseach to volunteer the Minister for Justice and Equality to come to the House, do the honourable thing, make a statement on what is probably one of the worst crises to hit An Garda Síochána and take questions on it. That was the way for many years in this House when crises happened. Private notice questions were the order of the day when a crisis happened in any Department. The Taoiseach knows in his heart that the raising of issues during Topical Issue debate is not a question and answer format. Let us not try to mislead or cod the public on that. That is not an accountability exercise. The Order of Business was obviously organised in advance of the revelations of these issues, so therefore there is an opportunity for the House to reorder business, as we did some weeks ago about the crisis relating to the Charleton inquiry.

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