Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Last Friday, I read in The Irish Timesabout an extraordinary letter from the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, to party colleagues in relation to a number of matters. Principally, the letter stated that the Minister of State would not stand over a Taoiseach firing a Garda Commissioner without so much as a phone call to the leader of the Labour Party. That is a very serious assertion by a Government Minister. Has the Taoiseach spoken to Deputy White about that assertion and does he agree with what he said about the removal of the Garda Commissioner? I have been asking for ten weeks for a candid and truthful account from the Taoiseach in regard to the reason he sent the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to the home of the Garda Commissioner on that fateful Monday evening prior to the Cabinet meeting, which in itself was an unprecedented move and which sources close to the former Garda Commissioner say left him in no doubt and with no option in regard to what was expected by the Taoiseach. This is a serious issue. The process to be followed with regard to the departure of a Garda Commissioner is laid out in law. The Garda Commissioner can only be removed by the Cabinet. Essentially, the Taoiseach set in train a series of events to remove the former Garda Commissioner without telling the Tánaiste or his Cabinet colleagues.

The Minister of State, Deputy White, has confirmed and said what the public believe to be the truth. For some reason, the Taoiseach will not come into this House and tell the truth and be candid with us as to the actions he took. This is a serious issue that goes to the very core of faith in the public service.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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It is a serious allegation.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is not.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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It is an allegation of lying.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is not. Asking a person to tell the truth is not accusing him of telling lies.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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It is a fact.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry; would the Deputy put his question?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Why did the Taoiseach not tell the Tánaiste at the time that he was sending the Secretary General to the home of the former Garda Commissioner following a meeting he had had with officials and with the former Minister, Deputy Shatter? Has the Taoiseach spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy White, who is a member of Government and has made this assertion publicly?

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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The Taoiseach could do with sending the Secretary General to a few more homes.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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No, I have not spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy White, and I do not accept the assertion in his letter. I understand he is involved in a leadership contest in his party.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin made the charge in this House that I fired the former Garda Commissioner. That is the Deputy's charge.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy White, said the same thing.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In time, Deputy Martin will have to stand over that. I have made this clear on the public record of Dáil Éireann, as is my responsibility. I have said it quite openly and candidly and I have told the truth, although Deputy Martin might not be familiar with the truth. I have said publicly, on the record, that the revelations made to me by the Attorney General arising from the particular case of an unsolved murder in west Cork and the implications of the recordings made at Garda stations for many years were of grave concern to me. I put on the record that it was my duty and my responsibility to have those concerns brought to the attention of the former Garda Commissioner because I would have to inform the Cabinet the following morning of those concerns and anxieties. I am well aware of the legislation regarding the removal of a person of the stature of Garda Commissioner. Deputy Martin has made a charge in this House and he is going to have to stand over it. He will not be able to, with the way he is going about it.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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With the greatest of respect, one of the Taoiseach's Ministers has made the charge, and the Taoiseach has done nothing about that. He has not even talked to him about it. The Taoiseach has some neck to come in here and lecture me about that when one of his Ministers made the same assertion.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The point is that the former Garda Commissioner, whether or not people liked or disagreed with his policies, was the first person to highlight the issue of the recordings at Garda stations. This was not about a specific phone recording. The Taoiseach needs to stop changing his story as time goes on. This was about the wider issue of phone recordings at Garda stations, about which the Taoiseach claims he was so concerned. Officials in the Department of Justice and Equality were alerted to this by the former Garda Commissioner. A working group had been established, the Attorney General office's was alerted to the matter and a letter was sent to the then Minister for Justice and Equality on the day.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Quiet, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The idea that this came as a bolt out of the blue is difficult to comprehend. The essential point is that the Taoiseach, in an unprecedented move which could have only one outcome, sent the Secretary General to the home of the former Garda Commissioner and he did not alert the Cabinet to that. The following morning, prior to the Cabinet meeting, the Secretary General rang the former Garda Commissioner and told him that the concerns of the Cabinet in relation to this issue had not dissipated-----

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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The heavy gang is back.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----despite the fact that the Cabinet knew nothing about it. Ministers are on record as saying that they knew nothing about the phone recording controversy or about anybody being sent to the former Garda Commissioner's house. Square that with the truth. It is a serious issue. The Taoiseach cannot hide behind the Fennelly inquiry for a year and a half and hope that it will be buried. He owes it to the public to give a candid, open statement about what happened over that number of days.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Quiet, please.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Martin can pander to populism if he wishes to do that.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Freagair an cheist.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I have to deal with my responsibilities here, in the office I occupy.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach also has a responsibility to this House.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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Answer the question.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am fully acquainted with the situation in so far as the removal of persons of the stature of a Garda Commissioner are concerned. Deputy Martin made a charge and he will have to stand over that charge.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I stand over it.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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What about the Minister of State, Deputy White? Will he have to stand over the charge he made?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has now revealed that he was informed on a particular morning that the concerns of the Cabinet had not dissipated. The Deputy will be aware that the Government has established a commission of inquiry, the sole member of which is a Supreme Court Justice who has authorisation, as requested by the committee on justice, which includes representatives of Fianna Fáil, to make decisions relevant to the commission, including its terms of reference. The exact wording is there. I have a duty, as have others, to respond to that. Perhaps, in view of his own revelation, Deputy Martin might be required to be candid about who told him that, in view of the fact that the Cabinet was not informed until I called them together on the morning that I should have.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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What is the Taoiseach's point?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is now saying he was aware that Cabinet concerns had not dissipated before the Cabinet had ever met.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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That is what the Secretary General said.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It is, perhaps, a matter for the sole member to question Deputy Martin about his source of information in that regard. I am quite sure he will be candid and truthful about it.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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The Taoiseach is waffling again.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I have to respond to the sole member of the commission and I will do so. I will attend the inquiry. That is my responsibility and that is what I want to do. The committee wrote a letter saying that, in view of the findings-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is another stitch-up.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Government have a majority on that committee too?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would you mind staying quiet and listening to the answers to the questions you have asked?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----this should be a particular term of reference of the commission of investigation. That was put in by the Government. I will respond to that inquiry truthfully, openly and candidly, as I have done on the record of the House.

Deputy Martin has made the charge that I fired the former Garda Commissioner. I am well aware of my responsibilities under the law. Deputy Martin is going to have to stand over that charge.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister of State, Deputy White, have to stand over it?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will respond in my time whenever the sole member decides-----

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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Stop hiding behind the commission.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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-----to deal with this element of the commission of investigation, as is his sole right and within his authority. He will deal with the issue in his own way.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Taoiseach should sit down now; he is over-explaining.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Like the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, he has no place to hide.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Like Deputy Bernard J. Durkan, the Taoiseach is a waffler.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will respond as one Member who will be called before the inquiry. I hope that when the Deputy is called - if that is the wish of the sole member - he will explain what he just said to the House. I hope he will be truthful and candid, as I am sure he will be.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Is Deputy Micheál Martin disappointed? Something did not go right. What is wrong?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will Deputies, please, stay quiet?

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Members opposite never took responsibility in 14 years.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Thirty years of recording conversations.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Why is the Government side so upset?

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I will not be so polite the next time; I will be ordering the Deputy out if he is not careful.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Like the young pups.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Ní leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh gan ciúnas mar tá ceist dáiríre agam. Last week in the absence of the Taoiseach I asked the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, whether he was aware that the founder and 50% shareholder of a private consultancy firm, The Health Partnership, had been appointed by the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, as chairperson of the West/North West Hospitals Group, a major State public health body. I put it to the Minister for Finance that a major player in the private health sector who promoted the privatisation of health services was being appointed as chairman of a major public health body and that there was clearly a conflict of interest. Once again, I called the judgment of the Minister for Health into question. The Minister for Finance was not able to answer my question. He said he had not been briefed on the issue. Therefore, I would like to direct my question at the Taoiseach. This is one of a litany of calamities over which the Minister for Health has presided. The Taoiseach might be aware that the Ombudsman, Mr. Peter Tyndall, has highlighted that he has received many complaints about discretionary medical cards but that when he was trying to investigate the issue, he was told the original files on the basis on which decisions were made about citizens' entitlement to a discretionary medical card were not available. He said it was almost impossible for his office to adjudicate on complaints made to him. Will the Taoiseach clarify what happened to the files? Why are they not available? The Government claimed to have conducted a review of discretionary medical cards. How could it have done so if the files were not available?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am not sure about the Deputy's last question.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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My last question concerns the fact that the Ombudsman is saying the original files used to make decisions on discretionary medical cards are not available. He says he has no explanation for this and that he has not been able to get one. This flies in the face of the Government's claim that it is conducting a review of medical card issues. How can it conduct such a review if the files are not available? The Taoiseach should not miss my question on an individual from a private consultancy firm being appointed as chairman of a major State public health body. Will he clarify what happened to the files mentioned by the Ombudsman? Why are they not available?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not know why they are not available. Obviously, we have had arguments and discussions in the House about the medical card system in the past couple of months. The Deputy is aware that for many years the system for allocating medical cards was based on income and that discretion applied where undue hardship was affecting the circumstances of any individual. Discretion was exercised, depending on one's circumstances. The Minister for Health has put in place a clinical panel to examine how medical cards might be given to people based on medical circumstances, with conditions attached. I do not know why the papers to which the Ombudsman referred are not available. The law never changed all along in using income as a basis for the allocation of medical cards and in respect of the system under which a medical card could be granted to an applicant whose income was over the limit in circumstances of undue hardship. I will have the matter checked for the Deputy, but I cannot answer his question. I do not know why the papers are not available. There has been no change in this regard since the 1970s, which is why we are moving towards an examination of the issue by a clinical panel of experienced personnel.

On the other matter mentioned, it is a serious issue. The matter is being dealt with seriously by the Minister for Health. Obviously, he wants to deal with it quickly.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach has stated this is a serious issue and that it is being dealt with seriously by the Minister for Health.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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He is the person who appointed the head of a private consultancy firm that advocates the privatisation of health services as chairman of a public health body. Therefore, I do not believe the Taoiseach's answer is adequate, nor do I believe the answer on the missing files is adequate. The Ombudsman has said that what happened to the files is something his office has not been able to establish. All he knows is that they are no longer available. He has stated his office cannot cast any light on where the files are and what happened to them and that they are simply no longer available. His office does not know when, why or how they went missing.

The change in the Government's attitude in the days before the election was indicative of contrition. Labour Party and Fine Gael Ministers talked about how they were getting it in the neck over how the Government was not dealing with the issue of medical cards properly. That was on 23 May, a long time ago. Despite this, the Taoiseach is not aware that the very files in which some of the decisions are supposed to have been recorded have gone missing. This is not good enough. Every Member of the Oireachtas knows how individuals, including children with unchangeable medical conditions and children with terminal illnesses, have had their medical cards taken from them. What happened to the contrition shown on 21 and 22 May? What we now have is a Government that is moving from one calamity to another. I note that the Taoiseach was not able to give me an adequate answer in this Chamber on either of my questions, one being on the appointment of the head of a private health consultancy as chairman of a public health body and the other being on medical cards.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy does not have a monopoly of contrition, compassion or humanity. That remark is beneath him, or perhaps it is not. How am I supposed to know the Ombudsman wrote to the Deputy?

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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He did not write to me; the matter was raised at the committee.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not know every issue the Ombudsman has raised, nor do I have information on the lack of material he is to receive, but I would be happy to follow through on this issue. Files on individual medical cards should not be lost, as I am sure they are not. I do not understand why they are not available to the Ombudsman who has an independent role and authority. I hope it is not a case of files having disappeared and it not being possible to retrieve them and make them available to an independent authority such as an ombudsman, as one would expect, when he has to make a decision on a legitimate case. We will find out the answer. The Deputy is telling me I am supposed to know all of these details.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach said he was conducting a review.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am telling the Deputy candidly and truthfully that I do not know the answer to the question, but I will find out. I have said the matter of the appointment to which the Deputy referred is serious and it is being treated seriously by the Minister for Health who will make his view known very shortly.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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The fox minding the chickens.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The Taoiseach made an intensive, whirlwind visit to Silicon Valley and San Francisco recently. He visited an array of media and technology companies, including Facebook, Cisco and eBay. We acknowledge the work of the Government in attracting investment, employment and growth, but there is another side to the coin. One aspect concerns Irish workers, while the other concerns Ireland's reputation. Multinationals come here and avail of tax breaks and concessions and then head for the hills. They either close down their businesses completely or reduce their numbers of employees. We have a list of the companies that during the years have done exactly what I describe. Others are planning to take a similar approach. We have noticed the increasing demands being placed on Irish workers which is epitomised by what is happening to workers in Waterford.

It is not so much a case of take it or leave it; it is a case of take it or we leave. We know the kind of aggressive lobbying that is going on to get that firm to move to New York. We see the erosion of hard-won workers' rights because of these companies in terms of salary and wages, health and safety, and other conditions. The editorial in the Irish Examinerput it very succinctly, stating: "Globalisation ruining workers' job security". We have to ensure we get worthwhile employment that is not at the whims of foreign multinational companies and foreign investment.

One of the strategies and answers is to have greater support of small and medium businesses in this country. The statistics show they are the ones who are more reluctant to let their employees go in difficult times. That means tackling the issues they have identified as being difficulties, for example, access to adequate finance, sustainable cash flow, upward-only rents, microfinance, seed capital schemes and the public procurement issue.

Will the Government commit to the same assertive or aggressive measures it uses to attract foreign direct investment and multinationals on behalf of the small and medium enterprises here? It is the small and medium enterprises - our indigenous industries - that have our workers' interests at heart. Will the Government commit to a series of events comparable to the St. Patrick's Day events which go towards attracting foreign investment in order to support our small and medium enterprises?

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Hear, hear. That is a sensible suggestion.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy O'Sullivan's question is very valid and I thank her for her comments. The Industrial Development Authority, for very many years, has been a global model for structuring a situation where foreign direct investment into this country has continued to be very strong. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, and the Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, as trade policy Minister, have had a direct impact on this.

I do not accept the multinationals come here and head for the hills shortly afterwards. This morning, for example, Hollister announced an €80 million investment in Ballina, and it has been there for 40 years; Allergan, which has been here the same length of time, has invested €300 million in Westport, and there are many others. It is true to say that the nature of the products manufactured in many of these plants has changed over the years and there have been changes in technology, in robotics and in the way things are done. Multinationals employ over 100,000 people here, with a massive investment in IT, pharmaceutical, software and many other areas.

I want Deputy O'Sullivan to understand that a priority of Government is really to focus on job creation through the SME sector. That is why Silicon Valley Bank, the Chinese Investment Corporation and KfW, the state investment bank from Germany, are putting together €4 billion in a couple of years for investment in regard to access to credit for small and medium enterprises, including the schemes the Deputy has mentioned. Some 20 SMEs from Ireland were in San Francisco at the weekend, pitching for venture capital investment, and these SMEs had gone through a boot camp here, where their presentations were taken asunder and reconstructed so they would be made in the strongest possible fashion. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, is in Switzerland today with up to 60 companies from Ireland, small and medium enterprises pitching for business and new markets.

I agree with the Deputy in regard to job creation and growing the economy for the future. The emphasis of the Minister through the Action Plan for Jobs, through the Pathways to Work scheme and through access to credit from new sources is to do exactly what the Deputy says, namely, make opportunities for small and medium enterprises to build on their potential. Enterprise Ireland, as an equivalent model of the IDA, has been exceptional in terms of the assistance, time, effort and creativity with which it works with companies so jobs can be created here in Ireland. Its fund, through high potential start-ups and so on, is very focused. While we cannot cover the entire range of opportunities, the ones where we see real potential get real priority and focus from Government.

The Deputy's question is valid. Some 60,000 jobs were created last year and 40% of those were created by companies that are less than five years old, so those frontiers up ahead are changing. Deputy O'Sullivan can take it from me that the focus and emphasis of Government is genuinely on small and medium enterprises and giving them that opportunity to grow their potential and create jobs here at home. It is then all about economic confidence.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I would ask about the public procurement aspect. We know the printing industry in this country has been decimated in recent years, with an estimated loss of some 5,000 jobs.

I want to move to another aspect, namely, Ireland's reputation, which brings in the tax issue. I believe multinationals' idea of social responsibility equals more profit for their shareholders. How do they get more profit for their shareholders? They pay their workers less and they pay less tax. We know that multinationals are very adept at very aggressive forms of tax avoidance, channelling revenue through subsidiaries, including, unfortunately, through countries like Ireland and the Netherlands, with the various techniques they use, including the "Double Irish" and "Dutch Sandwich".

Ireland has been a voice internationally against illicit flight capital from the countries of the developing world but we have to lead by example. We have to co-operate with what the OECD and the European Commission are doing. The OECD is calling on all G20 states to implement the 15-point guideline in its action plan in regard to base erosion and profit shifting. I want to know whether the Government will confirm which key aspects of that plan it will be implementing and whether it will ensure multinationals comply so Ireland does not facilitate tax avoidance by multinational companies.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The wages on average in IDA companies in Ireland are much higher than elsewhere in the economy. Survivorship among multinational companies is as strong as it is in Irish companies although, obviously, markets change and there are pressures all of the time. Ireland's spend on Irish companies is actually much higher than it is in respect of multinationals. It is not one or the other, it is not either-or - we need both. Obviously, multinationals being here creates opportunities for niche contractors to supply services and goods to them, which is very important.

In respect of base erosion and profit shifting, we have been very much up-front about this. In the budget last October the Minister abolished the stateless concept. Clearly, there is an international issue here in respect of the digital world having moved very much ahead of the legislative world. That is why Ireland, among other countries of the European Council and the EU, has been very much up-front in working with the European Commission and the OECD to deal with this in an international way, so there is an international response to the issue. The different sectors are represented and the many committees are attended and contributed to by Ireland. We hope the OECD will bring forward its report during the summer and, as I have said, Ireland is very much up-front in wanting this matter to be dealt with in an international sense.

This is not about the rate of corporation tax. It is about the issue of tax in general.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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It is about the effective tax rate.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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They are not paying 12.5%. Some are paying just 2.5%.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Send them home, so.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We are participating fully and comprehensively in that. Our legislation is statute-based and we believe it is ethically implemented and will stand up to any scrutiny. We want to participate with all other countries so the issues are dealt with as an international response to something that has happened over the last number of years. I thank the Deputy for her comments.