Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We all have personal sympathy for the former Minister, Deputy Naughten, but there was an immediate and collective realisation in this Chamber, when the Taoiseach detailed in two or three sentences four previous dinners, that this was not optics and the Minister had to resign. That is regrettable for him and his family but there was no doubt or question about that when we heard that. I do not know if the Taoiseach will be able to answer the question that arises concerning the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen. Whatever about the propriety of arranging the dinner in the first place, when the Minister of State became aware that there was controversy surrounding the dinner in Manhattan, why did he not inform the Taoiseach or the Dáil? That is the question the Taoiseach must answer first and foremost. The failure to reveal that information surely means the Minister of State's position is in question.

The Department also has questions to answer. My experience in a similar role and position, about which I spoke earlier, was that the Department guarded me every moment of the day and night. Who knew about the other dinners? Did the Department know? Everyone asked at the time why the Department allowed the Minister to go to the dinner in New York? What were officials thinking? I am interested to find out what the Department knew because, as Deputy Catherine Murphy correctly said, we must learn the lessons from the Moriarty tribunal. While I am not drawing a direct analogy because the circumstances are different, that Department, more than any other, should finally answer some questions. In my experience, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources was incredibly sensitive to the issue of processing tenders.

More than anything else, the question that now arises is what will happen next? I suggest that after the Dáil adjourns, we have a meeting of the Business Committee because we should have a special Dáil session on Tuesday to debate an issue raised by several previous speakers, namely, what will happen to the national broadband plan. To be honest, from what we have heard it is incredibly difficult to see how the plan can be delivered in its current format. We should give ourselves the weekend to consider the complexity of that issue and come back and debate it on Tuesday. Rather than leaving it to Mr. Smyth to investigate the issue of propriety, we should consider what we are doing with rural broadband. As I said earlier, that is the key question we must address.

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