Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Boyhan and Senator McDowell regarding the Judiciary and the mechanism by which judges are appointed. For a senior Minister in government to call into question whether the Chief Justice of this State is capable of chairing such a judicial body is an absolute disgrace, and the fact the Government is allowing that Minister to continue to peddle this is another disgrace. The sooner the Minister is brought to book the better. Governments govern. They are not dictated to by the Independents, or should not be dictated to by them, and certainly when an important arm of our democracy is questioned, the person questioning it should be put in order fairly quickly. In terms of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, wanting to come to this House to debate an area which in my opinion has nothing to do with him, he is not the Minister for Justice and Equality; Deputy Frances Fitzgerald is. Granted, he is a member of the Government, and there is collective responsibility, but I would prefer if he dealt with the portfolio that he has direct responsibility for, a portfolio he has made a hames of. He is treating ordinary public sector workers with disdain. He can come here and discuss that, and let us put questions to him on the area he has responsibility for.