Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Similar to last week and yesterday, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business: "That in accordance with Standing Order 56, the Attorney General be invited to attend the Seanad today to discuss the taping of telephone conversations in Garda stations." The Attorney General should attend to give an account of the incredible affairs of recent weeks in order that this House can participate on behalf of the public in getting to the bottom of these matters. "A masterclass from Shatter in sarcasm, contempt and a dollop of faux humility" is the most accurate account I read in today's newspapers of yesterday's charade in the Lower House. It is incredible that these matters are being accounted for in the way they are.

I posed my first question last week to the Leader. How many special committees are in operation in each Department under the authority of a Minister without his or her knowledge? Second, if the Secretary General is missing because of a bereavement, holiday or illness or anything else, does anyone else in the Department of Justice and Equality do his or her work? If the Attorney General is missing because of a family event, does anybody in her office do her work or do the affairs of the State simply come to a halt regardless of the seriousness of the matters at hand because an individual is missing through illness, leave or other issues? I am bound to say on behalf of Fianna Fáil that if that is the case, I am concerned about any of these people ever leaving their desks.

Many questions are outstanding from last week. The Taoiseach told us the Cabinet was gravely concerned about these matters and, therefore, he had to shaft the Commissioner by sending Mr. Purcell to his house. At that stage, the Cabinet had not even been informed about the letter from Mr. Callinan or the extent of the taping. How could the Cabinet have had so much concern if it had not even discussed the issue at that stage? At the Monday night meeting during which Mr. Purcell was clearly despatched to the Commissioner's house, there was no mention at all of the letter from Mr. Callinan.

I am concerned about the autopilot regime that has come into existence in Government Buildings. Once the Attorney General goes outside the door, nothing happens. Once the Secretary General of the Department is ill or at home, nothing happens and once the Minister is at a book launch or in Mexico or anywhere else, it seems nothing happens. Whether the Minister, the Secretary General of his Department, the Attorney General or whoever goes, the affairs of State must continue and the public are entitled to have confidence that, whoever happens to have an ingrown toenail, have a day off or be attending a family function, their concerns as citizens of the State are being looked after. In the context of the debate yesterday, the account of affairs by the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality and the Minister display a disgraceful contempt for the public in the neglect that is being shown to them and the fantasy account of events that is simply not believable. That is why each day until further notice under Standing Order 56 we expect the Attorney General to come to this House, which has the most current of mandates, much more so than the Dáil, and give an account.