Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. In her statement the Minister refers to these as important and disturbing issues. Are these not illegal activities? Yes, they are disturbing, they are even disgusting, but the bottom line is that illegal activities were carried out by those who were supposed to uphold the law. How many times do citizens of this State complete and submit forms, whether they be applications for carer's allowance, farm assist, child benefit or medical cards and in large bold writing at the bottom of the form, it states that submitting inaccurate and untrue information may lead to a custodial sentence. That is what hangs over the heads of people submitting information to this State. I will now ask a very direct question. Does the Minister believe that the falsifying of public records almost 1 million times is illegal? That is the bottom line we are looking at here. We either believe that is illegal or it is not illegal.