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

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will bear his comments in mind in my remarks. I have spoken to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice and Equality. I have not spoken directly to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality. The information I have, which I believe, is that the Tánaiste had no hand, act or part in determining the legal strategy of the former Commissioner and had no prior knowledge of the legal strategy pursued by the former Commissioner. I am also informed by the Department of Justice and Equality that it was told about the approach taken by the Commissioner's senior counsel after the cross-examination had already taken place. As the Department was informed after the fact, it was certainly not in a position to express any reservations about the legal strategy. This issue has been going back and forth for a couple of days. I have seen newspaper articles on it. Letters have been exchanged. Parliamentary questions have been asked and answered. There have been many briefings to the effect that there is some explosive allegation here. I heard one briefing suggesting an allegation so explosive that it might bring down the Government. At this stage, if the Labour Party has an allegation to make, it should make it clearly in order that we might respond.

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