Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has shown disrespect and discourtesy to the gardaí and to their representative bodies. He has shown disrespect and discourtesy to the Army and its representative bodies, as well as to the prison officers. These are the people who often put their lives and physical safety on the line in the service and defence of the State. My first interaction with the Minister, Deputy Shatter, was in this Chamber shortly after my election to the Seanad when he came in with all guns blazing and declared his intention to close down the Smithwick tribunal. He did not tell Members the reason and at that time also failed to tell them he had received correspondence from the judge presiding over the Smithwick tribunal outlining the reason the tribunal needed to continue for some time. My confidence in the Minister was shattered at that time. I had no confidence in him because I thought he was trying to be the new sheriff in town and was pretty unsuccessful in so doing. Fianna Fáil was able to acquire the documents under freedom of information legislation on that day regarding the correspondence between the Minister and the judge, just as the party will seek the Minister's diary for today under freedom of information legislation, because no convincing reason has been given for his absence.

Moreover, when people talk of how great the Minister is in respect of legislation, the same is true of all Ministers for Justice and Equality. It is a legislating Department that keeps producing legislation. It has no relevance to the fear people have when their Garda stations are closed, their districts are merged and there is no proper policing in their areas. Moreover, those Garda and Army staff, as well as other front-line workers, are being hit hardest under the Croke Park agreement. Through hitting their allowances, the Government is hitting the average garda or nurse as hard as those people who are on salaries of ¤100,000. That is unfair and unjust, and while my party has yet to finalise its examination of the deal, in my view it is a reason to oppose it. Fianna Fáil has no confidence in the Minister and neither do the people or the security forces of the State. It is about time that Seanad Éireann also declared that it, too, has no confidence in the Minister.