Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

Will the Leader arrange for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to return to the House to discuss a number of important issues included in his brief? In particular, I would like him to address something to which he referred on radio this morning. He said he was not taking seriously incidents of violent street crime against young people. He also said it was not worth putting resources into it. This is absolutely unacceptable. I had a young person in the car with me this morning and when he heard this, he said it was a joke. He could not believe the Minister would treat street crime in such an offhand manner.

The Shanganagh issue is related. Why are there not more people in the centre in Shanganagh? Is it because there are no prosecutions against them? The Minister should also address the situation in Mountjoy Prison about which we heard a lot during the week. He should further address the Lindsay tribunal report and the possibility of taking criminal proceedings against the pharmaceutical companies, as recommended here by the Minister for Health and Children. However, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is saying it would be a monumental waste of resources to take action.

On a lighter note, I have great respect for the Minister but he said this morning he hoped to be canonised after his term in government. He has a lot of work to do before being canonised.