Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is, no doubt, relief among ordinary people across the country that the Taoiseach did not inflict a general election on them in the face of the pressures - often very serious financial pressures - they face in the run-up to Christmas, to gain some cynical political advantage which I think was part of his calculations in how he dealt with this unfolding crisis. How else can he explain that, right up until the last minute, he protected the former Minister for Justice and Equality, even though he knew over the weekend that the Tánaiste had misled the Dáil about the extent of her knowledge of an absolutely foul smear campaign against Maurice McCabe?

This place never ceases to amaze me. I have just come from the Business Committee. Given the scale of events unfolding around us, in which we have lost a Minister and Tánaiste over the revelations that she misled the Dáil and with serious questions hanging over the current Minister for Justice and Equality over why he did not inform the Taoiseach of the extent of the knowledge within the Department at the time about the campaign against Maurice McCabe, and the questions the Taoiseach has to answer on why he protected the Tánaiste until the very last minute when it was politically unsustainable for anything to happen other than that she step down, I proposed that the Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, and the former Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, come to the House to answer questions. There was a complete conspiracy of silence at the Business Committee. My request for questions to be taken on all the unanswered questions was opposed across the board. It was even suggested, incredibly, that the Taoiseach should not even take Leaders' Questions today, though there was a quick backing down from this suggestion.

The Taoiseach is trying to close the can of worms that has been opened on this scandal and Fianna Fáil is colluding with him, which is absolutely outrageous as so many questions remain unanswered. If information that should have been given to Mr. Justice Charlton was not given, who else in the Government at the time knew what Deputy Frances Fitzgerald and the rest of the Department knew? Did the Cabinet sub-committee on justice reform know about it? Did it deliberate on it? Is there other information in other ministries or memos on this matter that has not been handed over to Mr. Justice Charlton? Why did the Government and Fianna Fáil continue to defend Noreen O'Sullivan right up to the end, given that people in the Government knew that she had this knowledge of the smear campaign against Sergeant Maurice McCabe? It is absolutely extraordinary. We do not want to have a general election before Christmas because the people do not want to have one inflicted on them, but how can anybody have confidence in the Government, given its handling of this issue? The people certainly need to have a general election to get rid of the Government as soon as possible in the new year.

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