Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in expressing my deepest sympathy to Senator John Kelly on the death of his beloved father, Kevin Kelly, and to his widow Mary and the family, John, Kevin, Bernadette, Anne and Claire, and his nine grandchildren. Kevin was a good friend and a wonderful community welfare officer in his time. He was in business up to his death. He was much loved in the community, as was evident from the turnout at his funeral last night at Oran and this morning at Clooneycolgan.

I advise Senator Gilroy that I volunteered to pair with Senators for the funeral. We do not take advantage of bereavement. For the Senator's information, three Members of Fianna Fáil have paired with his colleagues to permit them to attend the funeral. Give credit where credit is due; we do not do that sort of business. It is not our style. We are a very honourable people.

The Attorney General should avail of the opportunity to come to this House to explain her situation in regard to the bugging scandal and other issues. She might also explain to the House the reason for the lack of legislation coming from her office. The Attorney General is a political appointee. She was nominated by the Labour Party and appointed by the Government. There is nothing wrong with that; it has been the tradition since the foundation of the State that the Attorney General was aligned to a party before he or she was appointed. I have no doubt about her abilities but it would be in her interest to come before the House to discuss these issues. As far as I can see, people are leaking information to their favourite journalists and everyone has a story to tell about the letter, the non-delivery of the letter and the advice that the Attorney General gave to the Taoiseach last Monday. The leader of another party has alleged that her telephone has been bugged. These matters could be cleared up if the Attorney General came into this House.

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Committee on Procedure and Privileges for agreeing to invite the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Ms Anne Brasseur, to address the House.