Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have spoken on this issue on many occasions. I again ask the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, to consider standing back on this issue. The nation is watching very closely and they saw the shambles that went on here last night. If his Government has its hand tied behind its back by the Minister, Deputy Ross, I plead with Sinn Féin to release the ties of the Fine Gael Ministers and TDs and call a halt to this mess. I know it is not a mess that Sinn Féin intended but it has happened and it is before the people at this time. From what I can see, and I have to be careful in what I say, the Minister, Deputy Ross, is holding the Government against its will on this issue. There is only one party that can call a halt to that and that is Sinn Féin. It can make him put this Bill in the bin, restart it and face the people. I referred earlier to a text the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, sent me following a vote in a previous debate in which he indicated his frustration that I did not support the Bill. I outlined my concerns to him at that very early stage and now they are justified because this is a complete mess. It is an embarrassment for our country and for our Government and anyone who is supporting it on this Bill.

In terms of whether it will be a 13 person or a 17 person commission appointed by the Government, we are back to square one. It is like a quango. Will it be a little job for the boys? Will we be sitting here in a couple of years from now saying that these appointments are questionable and asking whether it was Fine Gael or Sinn Féin and who supported it?

It is time for us to pull back. There is no doubt that there needs to be reform in some respects. On many occasions, I have raised the case of a gentleman in my constituency who, since 2005, has gone through the court process since 2005 and who has been treated extremely poorly. This man has endured a lot of ill health because of a case brought against him by a semi-State body that had plenty of money to do so. The bottom line is this man feels justified in his view that there was no court registrar on the day of the court case. I raised this case with the Minister, who is not here but who has heard me discuss it on the floor of the House previously. He is not to blame because he was not there. I fully accept that. However, I pleaded with him to work with this gentleman to find out whether there was a registrar and what procedure was used, regardless of the efforts made by this man to find out whether there was a registrar in the court because if there was none, it means the court proceedings were null and void on the day. Nobody to whom I have written in this Government can provide that man with a course of action - a road he can travel or a person to whom he can go to find this out. To me, it stinks to high heaven of a cover up because if there was honesty and transparency, which should exist in these situations, they would be able to say who the registrar was, when he or she was there and who was paid to come on the day but nobody is able to supply him with that information no matter how many times he has gone through the courts to try to resolve that.

We do need to reform our judicial system but a 17 or 13-person commission is not the way forward. It is just another job for the boys. There has been discussion here about whether it will cost €1 million. It might only cost €500,000. That is a huge amount of money for people who are struggling. Members of the public watching the debate last night and tonight are not happy with the parties that continue to support this Bill, which is faltering all around them. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is on a little ego trip. I would plead with the Minister to talk to each and every member of the Government and say that enough is enough and that it will not be part of this charade. It has definitely been found that there are major questions about it. There has been doubt among the public that there was an issue here and last night proved that there was. It is time to step back, govern decisively and not be led by somebody on an ego trip. It has put us a very serious situation.

I do not know how many times and how many Deputies have spoken to the Government tonight. They have been very consistent about the way they have said this will go. They have pleaded with the Government to pull back but to date it has refused to do so. The body language of those opposite does not give me the impression that the Government really supports this. It is being carried along by the hand. It is a case of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport or the country. Sometimes democracy and standing by the people are far better than standing by a man on an ego trip. As we said earlier, he could write about the Minister in a few months' time and tear him to bits about what he did in this Bill, that Bill and the other Bill. Today, he is backing the Government but the pen is heavier than the sword and he will be back with the pen again fairly soon. I ask the Minister to listen to the public. There is an outcry. We are all human. Many mistakes have been made here along the way and last night proved that. The Government has an opportunity to overturn that and govern the way a Government should govern and not continue to support somebody who is fighting a losing battle on this issue.

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