Joe O'Toole (Independent)

As someone who has regularly raised the Curtin affair over the past two years, I believe this House should give thanks to the members of the Committee on Article 35.4.1° of the Constitution and section 39 of the Courts of Justice Act 1924, who worked tirelessly to do all that was required of them. I never thought they would be able to conclude their work because the cards were repeatedly dealt to the other side of the table and too many options were available to people who wished to scuttle the committee. That, however, does not take away from the extraordinary work they have done and they deserve our thanks for giving up two summers to deal with the matter. I have said they would be used as the wedge between the parties and left to carry the can but I am glad this has not been the case. They can at least take pride in their work.

Will the Leader consider a debate on the fourth report of the Joint Committee on the Constitution, which addressed the issue of removing a judge? The committee also produced a draft Bill on the issue. In the aftermath of the O'Flaherty business, we held similar discussions on how these matters should be addressed. When we failed for the second time two years ago, I recommended that we would at least try to avoid getting it wrong a third time. We should move immediately to follow that advice by debating the report of the joint committee and by asking it to continue its work. Having spent two years considering the matter, the committee's members are now the only people in the Oireachtas with expertise of any description in this area. They should be given the draft Bill which was published some years ago in order to report on whether they feel it is adequate to deal with the situations they have encountered over the past two years. We should harness their expertise to ensure everything is in place to deal with potential future problems in an efficient and statutory way.