Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

By any standard, the past few days have been damaging to the Government. This has been another damaging episode for this short-lived Government. By extension, the past few days have been damaging to politics. We had the spectacle of a senior member of the Government being exposed for engaging in what can only be described as grubby activity for grubby purposes by leaking a confidential document to a rival union while the Government was engaged in ongoing negotiations with a licensed union. The Taoiseach stated that the Tánaiste described it as an error of judgment. It was an error of judgment, but it was also wrong. Does the Taoiseach accept that the actions of the Tánaiste last year were wrong? Will he ask the Tánaiste to admit that publicly? There were many weasel words yesterday. The Tánaiste's actions were either wrong or right. Does the Taoiseach accept they were wrong? Will he ask the Tánaiste to admit that?

The Taoiseach is engaging in weasel words himself by talking about the essentials of the agreement. Very minor elements of the deal were included in the press release, which comprised a five-page document. The document that was leaked was a 108-page document. There was an awful lot more there that was in negotiation and subsequently agreed.

What added insult to injury was the fact that the Tánaiste ludicrously dressed this all up as him somehow having a legitimate objective and, laughingly, claimed that he was honouring Government commitments. This insults people's intelligence. I think most people saw this episode for what it actually was. It was patently untrue for the Tánaiste to make that claim. He engaged in a deliberate distortion of the truth.

Very regrettably during the last couple of days this distortion was then repeated by a succession of Fine Gael Ministers - although the Taoiseach must accept they are his Ministers as well - going on the airwaves and trotting out cynically crafted spin lines. I heard the Taoiseach repeating some of those which I think is beneath him. It has been very damaging to public trust in politics. I ask the Taoiseach to take steps to restore that trust and get the Tánaiste to admit what this actually was; it was wrong. Will the Taoiseach undertake an immediate review of the code of conduct for officeholders? Those members of the Government are required to honour the existing code. However, it seems it is okay with the Taoiseach for members of his Government to personally interpret that code as it was okay, it seems, for the Tánaiste to personally interpret that message that this was a confidential document and not for circulation.

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