Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The format in which people meet will depend on the issue. It will not be the case that everyone will be required to attend every sub-committee meeting. Some people will be required and others will be invited depending on the issues that are being dealt with. I am doing many more things bilaterally. I had a very long bilateral meeting with the Minister for Justice and Equality and his Secretary General last week and I will carry through a whole programme of bilateral meetings with Ministers through to the end of July.

More is also being done at the Cabinet table rather than at sub-committees. For example, we had two Cabinet meetings last week and we will also have two Cabinet meetings next week. More things are being done collectively by the whole Cabinet rather than having them delegated to sub-committees. This is just a different way of doing things and if it does not work out, we will review the position after six months and possibly change it. The important thing is not the structure but the outcomes. Let us see the outcomes.

Regarding Jobstown, I restate my view that I do not condone in any way the actions of the protestors in Jobstown. While no one was convicted, the scenes were ugly and violent. I was particularly struck by the moment when a vote was taken as to whether the two women should be detained all night. That was more like a scene fromLord of the Fliesthan a scene from a peaceful protest.

To respond to Deputy Micheál Martin, there is a world of difference between commenting on a trial that is over and one that is under way. As Head of Government, I believe there is legitimate concern about any failed prosecution, whether in the Jobstown case or the prosecution of Seán FitzPatrick, given the enormous amounts of taxpayers' money that go into prosecuting people and the time taken up by citizens serving on a jury and those who have to be part of the trial process in many different ways. When a prosecution fails there should, at the very least, be a review of the reasons it went wrong, and I am glad such a review is under way in both the cases to which I referred. If I had failed to call for such a review, Deputy Martin may have been the person calling for such review and asking why I was not supporting one.

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