Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I too want to be associated with the kind and good wishes to our former colleague, Denis Landy, who I am very sorry to hear has submitted his resignation from Seanad Éireann. Denis, who lives quite close to me on the other side of the Tipperary-Waterford border, was a stalwart Labour Party public representative and trade unionist. I wish him, his family and his Labour Party colleagues the very best because he is a huge loss to national politics. He was always a champion for local politics at national level through his first role as a leader of the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, and since he entered Seanad Éireann in 2011. He always made councillors and local authority policies and issues a very high priority. I sincerely wish him well.

On recent controversies and the resignation of the former Tánaiste, Deputy Fitzgerald, I too acknowledge the Trojan work that Deputy Fitzgerald did when she became Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. She set up many of the institutions of the State that are now responsible for the protection of children. She introduced legislation that will ensure many generations of children in the future will be protected. She led the way in much of that groundbreaking legislation. We now understand that, since the Taoiseach ordered the trawl of documents in the Department of Justice and Equality, further information and documents have been disclosed. The Charleton tribunal is charged with examining all of this in fine detail. I believe, however, that the Department of Justice and Equality needs to be turned inside out in respect of the way it conducts its dealings because it is obvious that Sergeant Maurice McCabe has been the victim at many levels, not only within An Garda Síochána but also of collusion within the State and the Department of Justice and Equality. I am annoyed about that, as are colleagues of mine. I believe fundamentally, however, that the former Tánaiste, Deputy Fitzgerald, will be vindicated when the Charleton tribunal has the opportunity to examine, according to due process and natural justice, the fine detail, the evidence, facts and truth behind much of this.

While I acknowledge the right of any Member of Parliament to raise issues of concern regarding public accountability I will take no lectures from Sinn Féin and find it ironic for Sinn Féin to lecture my party and indeed a person of the fine standing of the former Tánaiste, Deputy Fitzgerald, when its party turned a blind eye to sexual abuse, to the families of the disappeared, to bullying within politics and still turns a blind eye to bullying within politics.