David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Independent group, we are very glad to agree to the House not sitting tomorrow in deference to our late colleague, former Senator Nicky McFadden. I will not say very much about her today except to agree with what my colleagues have said and to say that, without any doubt, she was the best loved politician in either House. She was a remarkable, courageous and dignified woman. I regret I will not be able to attend her funeral because I have to stay close to Dublin for hospital reasons but I know our group will attend.

I do not believe I have ever asked in this House for anybody's head previously but I did say two weeks ago that the Minister, Deputy Shatter, and the Commissioner, would have to go, and I gave reasons. In terms of the confidential recipient saying that if one goes against Shatter, he will screw one, he should have gone then. That is incredible from a Minister for Justice and Equality. In any other jurisdiction he would have been gone. I do not take any joy in that. I know he is a very clever, remarkable man. It is like a Greek drama. He has a tragic flaw of arrogance and an inability to resist the temptation to smear anybody who gets in his way.

In terms of events that happened on the Minister's watch, the arrest of Deputy Clare Daly was an absolute disgrace for which an apology should have been made. The misuse of information about Deputy Mick Wallace and where he got it from was shocking. Last night, I believe unintentionally, the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, who came to his defence and threw his substantial weight behind him, hung him because what he said was that for the Minister to have to resign there would need to be a serious situation involving either incompetence or malpractice. Can anybody today deny that this is a serious situation or that it involves both incompetence and malpractice on behalf of the Minister? I do not delight in making these remarks. I would much prefer to be positive but it seems to me that this situation cannot be allowed to continue.

I also listened to Senator O'Keeffe on the radio programme last night and I would say, particularly to Labour spokespeople, that if all they can say is that they are not happy and make routine references to processes, timelines and so on, they would be better to stay off the air.