Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I would like to raise two issues on the Order of Business. Will the Leader make time available today for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to come to the House to make a statement concerning the selective leaking to one particular journalist of a document concerning a third party? I know the Minister will make a statement in the other House today and I wonder if we will have an opportunity to hear from him also.

While that issue is important and I have no doubt the Minister will account for his actions later in the day, it is equally important to say that those who set themselves up as moral and ethical watchdogs for the rest of us or for public bodies must answer for themselves concerning their own history and affairs. That is as important, if not more so, than the Minister's statement to the other House today. Just because a person may not face a criminal trial in regard to an issue does not mean that person is free from exposing to the country and the citizens within it what he or she knows about that history and those events. Where serious allegations are made against a third party, it is important that third party has an opportunity currently in the courts to take a libel proceeding against the two newspapers in question if he so chooses. That is a matter for that individual. As I have always said in this House, there is an over-arching responsibility on the State to expose subversion wherever it finds it. I say that as someone who believes and upholds the constitutional principles that exist here and have always existed.

I was greatly heartened, as I am sure were other colleagues, by the show of strength on the streets of Dublin, Cork, Limerick and other cities last Friday when more than 150,000 Irish workers took to the streets. Serious issues arise from that demonstration by the Irish labour movement last Friday. People are concerned about their terms and conditions, the issue of displacement and the working environment, particularly for immigrant workers. If there is one lesson to be learned from the Irish Ferries dispute and its spillover impact in terms of the march last Friday, it is that partnership must note the lessons from this process to ensure those who work within our economy are well protected and well guarded against exploitative measures by other employers and by people outside this State.