Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I ask for a debate on the priorities of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. On the one hand, it was warned by a Law Reform Commission report in 1990 about problems with the legislation which was struck down by the Supreme Court yesterday. It is that long ago, but the Department never got around to acting on the matter. At the same time, the Department is fighting a diligent rearguard action to protect itself and its agencies from the Freedom of Information Act. In spite of the request of the Information Commissioner, it has resolutely refused to bring the Garda Síochána under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. I hope that Mr. Justice Morris's further reports will be published shortly, and we will realise the degree to which public scrutiny of the Garda and how it operates is increasingly necessary as a result of what Mr. Justice Morris has brought to our attention.

At the same time, the Department is resolutely refusing to have any part in the refugee process being brought under the Freedom of Information Act. I hope all of us behaved with considerable restraint and responsibility last week in the face of what occurred in St. Patrick's Cathedral. To encourage those actions would have been profoundly wrong. The issue has been dealt with well. There is a fundamental question remaining in that we do not know how many of these refugee agencies work.

In particular, there are many stories about extraordinarily uneven decision making by appeals commissioners, with some people refusing everybody, and allegedly boasting about it. Other people are more reasonable. We will not be told of this. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which forgot about a Law Reform Commission report for 16 years, is resolutely working to persuade the Government not to extend the Freedom of Information Act to it. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should come in here to explain the peculiar priorities of his Department and there should be an attempt to get it in line with what the public generally feels.

It is at least a month since I raised the fact that the Taoiseach's Department website has not noted that James Connolly founded the Labour Party in the man's biography. In a week when the Taoiseach is busy correcting records, perhaps he will get around to correcting his own website also.