Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister would do him a favour by publishing his report. Not publishing it is not doing him any favours. The Minister's report does not outline any of the investigative failures or shortcomings that Judge Aylmer identified. I can tell the Minister that 15 pages of his report after he threw out the case are far more informative - 20 times more informative - than her account. The Minister's report ignores the fact that there was a deliberate attempt to build the case rather than investigate it independently and impartially. At this stage, I am convinced that we need a full independent inquiry if we are to get information and understanding and find out where we are going. We are talking about forming a new entity. That is fine. I do not have a problem with that because we need to do something serious about tackling white-collar crime but it does not stack up for the Government to hide behind the Attorney General's advice and not publish the ODCE report. I do not believe the Government can continue down this road without a full independent inquiry.

It is interesting that the House of Commons had a vote today about the British attorney general's legal advice. The British Government has just been defeated and the British attorney general will be censured in the House of Commons for refusing to publish his legal advice regarding Brexit. He also hid behind the public interest when it is in the public interest for the Government to be transparent and open. If we want transparency and openness about what happened since 2009 concerning how the FitzPatrick case was dealt with from start to finish, we need a full independent inquiry. For starters, we need to see the publication of the ODCE's original report, all 235 pages of it. I have outlined with regard to the different sections why even the director of the ODCE has pointed that there is no obstacle to publishing this report. The Government is hiding behind it.

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