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

I can confirm that arrangements are being made for the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan, to make a statement to the House to apologise for the failure of his Department to answer questions fully in the past couple of weeks, to offer further assurance that questions which have not yet been answered will be answered in full and that in the future he will ensure, as will his Secretary General, questions are answered properly.

I am certainly not in any way happy about how the last couple of weeks have played out. Notwithstanding the enormous distraction this has been for the Government and the country, we did not have to end up in the situation we are in today. Had questions been answered properly and in full, I certainly would not have had to come into the House on two occasions to correct what I had said. The information I have given in the House has always been the full truth, or at least the truth as it was given to me. Second, had all of the questions been answered and the e-mails found and put in the public domain seven or ten days ago, I do not think it would have been necessary for the Tánaiste to tender her resignation this morning. It is a very sorry state of affairs that has occurred in the past week or two. That is, of course, why last week I ordered the trawl of all documents in the Department of Justice and Equality, which is why the additional e-mails came to light last week and in the past couple of days. It is also why I ordered the progress report on the implementation of the Toland reforms, which was published last night and shows which reforms have been implemented and which have yet to be implemented. I will ensure the report is fully implemented in the period ahead.

At the heart of all of this, on a day like today, is the human cost, not just the human cost to Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, her family, friends and colleagues but also, of course, the human cost to Detective Sergeant Maurice McCabe and his family who, once again, are in the spotlight of public attention and seeing their pictures on the front pages of the newspapers through no fault of their own.

I hope that answers Deputy Micheál Martin's question.

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