Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to interfere with what the justice committee wants to do, but if a request comes from it to my Department, I will ensure that careful consideration is given to it.

I have to make a broader point on scoping inquiries and reports. Generally, when there is a proposal in the House to establish a commission of investigation or a tribunal of inquiry, a scoping report is done in advance. We did it with the allegations of sexual abuse in schools, where Mary O'Toole SC prepared the scoping inquiry report. It took about three or four months and comprised around 40 pages. She said that there needed to be an investigation into those matters because she was not able to establish the detail of it. However, the scoping report we are discussing is different and I cannot ignore the fact that it says that there should be no further inquiry. I fully understand and appreciate the Deputy's political objective but he has to understand that other people could quite legitimately say to me that I was told not to set up a further inquiry.

I am keeping the matter open, but I cannot ignore the content of the scoping report.

See this speech in context