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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 Sep 2015

Vol. 889 No. 1

Confidence in Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government: Motion

I move:

That Dáil Éireann welcomes the publication of the Interim Report of the Fennelly Commission and notes its conclusions and reaffirms its confidence in the Taoiseach, in the Attorney General and in the Government.

I welcome this opportunity to discuss the interim report of the commission of investigation which is being chaired by Mr. Justice Fennelly, a retired judge of the Supreme Court.

The Fennelly Commission, which was established on my recommendation on 25 March 2014, is part of broad and comprehensive approach which the Government has taken to ensure that matters of very significant public concern related to the administration of policing and justice are thoroughly addressed. These include the most wide-ranging reforms of the policing and justice system since the foundation of the State, as well as robust actions taken to investigate certain allegations. No similar series of reports has ever been more thorough, or published more quickly. No programme of reform of policing and justice has ever been more radical, or more necessary. The reform programme includes the establishment of a new independent policing authority; the provision of enhanced powers to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, including enabling it to deal with and investigate complaints from serving gardaí; and the passing of groundbreaking new legislation to protect whistleblowers, including to allow serving gardaí to make protected disclosures to GSOC in confidence.

The decision to establish an independent policing authority, which was taken by the Government on 25 March 2014, represents the most radical reform of An Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State. It brings a dedicated layer of public oversight to the administration of policing services and provides a new engine to drive reforms to ensure that the force is fit to meet the challenges of 21st century policing.

As well as implementing wide-ranging reforms, a number of independent inquiries were established by this Government to investigate serious matters of public concern. Judge Cooke was appointed to investigate allegations that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was the subject of unlawful surveillance. His report was published in June 2014. Mr. Seán Guerin SC was appointed to investigate allegations made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe about crime investigations in the Cavan-Monaghan district. His report was published in May 2014. His recommendation that a commission of investigation be established to investigate further certain matters has been acted on. In 2014, the Government commissioned the Toland report, which was prepared by a group of distinguished independent experts. That report identified a number of deficiencies in the structure, management and operation of the Department of Justice and Equality. On foot of its recommendations, a programme for change and a new strategy statement for the Department have been finalised and are now being implemented. When these reforms are fully implemented across the policing and justice system, I am confident that the reporting and communications failures that are identified in this interim report will not be repeated in the future.

The interim report of the Fennelly commission deals with two specific issues which the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence unanimously requested be included in its terms of reference and reported on in advance of the main report. The first concerns the furnishing to the Minister for Justice and Equality of a letter dated 10 March 2014 from the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality. The second concerns the sequence of events leading to the retirement of the former Garda Commissioner on 25 March 2014. These issues are, of course, closely interlinked. In particular, the failure to furnish the Garda Commissioner’s letter of 10 March 2014 about the taping of telephone calls in Garda stations to the Minister for Justice and Equality had a very significant impact on subsequent events. This was greatly compounded by the fact that neither the Minister nor I were informed of the letter’s existence when considering the matter on 24 March.

I repeatedly rejected claims that the report would not be published when I received it, or that I would somehow attempt to delay publication until after the forthcoming general election.

Six o'clock news.

The report was received on Monday, 31 August and published on Tuesday, 1 September-----

At ten to six.

-----as soon as it was legally cleared by the Attorney General’s office.

There was a lot to say before it was cleared.

It is those Dublin 4 peskies the Tánaiste does not like.

I also consistently rejected claims by some in opposition that I sacked or sought to sack the former Commissioner.

I welcome the report's clear and unambiguous finding that the question of removing the former Commissioner from his position was never discussed or contemplated.

That is Comical Ali stuff.

The report confirms that the former Commissioner decided to retire by his own decision, and that he could have decided otherwise. Furthermore, the report finds-----

Simon, do not get involved in this. Your future is bright.

He will be caught smiling in the background.

-----that I had no intention of putting any pressure on the former Commissioner to retire.

Deputy Niall Collins's leader will get a chance to speak shortly.

The commission of investigation also concludes that "serious information deficits and multiple failures of communication" beset the events leading up to the retirement of the then Garda Commissioner. This criticism presents significant lessons for institutions and officers of State-----

Including the Taoiseach.

-----about governance and process. These need to be studied further, and Mr. Justice Fennelly's observations need to be acted upon in the spirit in which he has presented them in his report.

It should be recalled that in the weeks leading up to the then Garda Commissioner's decision to retire, the justice system, and An Garda Síochána in particular, was engulfed in a series of controversies. The allegations made by Garda whistleblowers, and the handling of these allegations by the Garda authorities, had been causing deep public concern for some time. In addition, relations between the Garda and its oversight and accountability body, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, had deteriorated significantly.

Twelve days prior to Mr. Callinan's decision to retire, the Garda Inspectorate published a report on the penalty points controversy that was widely interpreted as vindicating the complaints of the whistleblowers. This reignited the issue of the former Commissioner's treatment of these whistleblowers, and particularly his use of the term "disgusting" in reference to them at the Committee of Public Accounts. From Thursday, 20 March, a number of Ministers called on the then Commissioner to withdraw or clarify his remark. Throughout this period, I strongly defended the then Commissioner, consistently and without qualification, including in Washington on 13 March and again in Brussels on 21 March, when I called on Ministers not to publicly comment about the then Commissioner in advance of the Cabinet meeting to be held on Tuesday, 25 March. There was significant media commentary on these controversies and much speculation as to whether the then Commissioner would issue an apology or clarification for his remarks.

It was against this backdrop that on Sunday, 23 March, I was informed by the Attorney General for the first time of the serious issue of widespread recording of telephone conversations in Garda stations throughout the country. The Attorney General was deeply concerned at the revelations and it was clear that I, as Taoiseach, with responsibility for notifying the Cabinet of sensitive legal cases, would have to bring this new information to their attention and that it would form part of the discussion on the other ongoing controversies at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 25 March. My purpose in calling the meeting on the evening of Monday, 24 March, was to gather as much information as possible on the taping issue in advance of the following morning's Cabinet meeting so that I could fully inform the Government of this latest revelation, particularly as it related to the Bailey case arising from the du Plantier murder.

What is deeply regrettable, and very significant, is that neither I nor the then Minister for Justice and Equality was made aware of the existence of a formal letter from the then Commissioner on the taping issue which had been sent to the Department of Justice and Equality. While the interim report criticises the delay in submitting this letter on a matter of such significance, it had been in the Department of Justice and Equality for two weeks at this stage, with a legal requirement that it be brought to the attention of the then Minister. Clearly, had this letter been brought to his attention or to my attention on the night of Monday, 24 March-----

If the Taoiseach had rung him, he would have told the Taoiseach.

-----a meeting between the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner would not have been necessary, as the Minister would have acted on the letter and that letter could have been presented to the Cabinet the next day.

He thinks what the Taoiseach said was fantasy.

Instead, I was left in a position in which a Cabinet meeting was about to take place, it was now clear that a commission of investigation would have to be proposed, and the matter of recordings in Garda stations throughout the country was about become public, and so, in the absence of being told about the letter, I made a decision that it was only right and fair to ensure that the then Garda Commissioner was made aware of the situation and of my grave concerns about it.

While I note the commission's conclusion that the "immediate catalyst" for the Commissioner's decision to retire was the visit of the Secretary General, I reiterate the Commission's clear finding that the Commissioner decided to retire by his own decision-----

-----and that he could have decided otherwise, and also that it found that I had no intention of putting pressure on the former Commissioner to retire.

The main report of the Fennelly commission will deal with a wide range of important matters of significant public concern. These include the operation of telephone recording systems to record calls to and from large numbers of Garda stations over many years, the specific implications of the taping related to the Garda investigation into the death of Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier in County Cork in December 1996 and related matters, and how these matters were dealt with by the responsible authorities. The very detailed terms of reference approved by the House last year addressed such concerns as which Garda stations were involved, how the taping systems were operated, what use, if any, was made of the information obtained by the Garda or the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, whether any of it was destroyed and whether the taping was lawful. I look forward to Justice Fennelly's main report, which will deal with all these very serious issues. I will publish the report when it is received, in accordance with the law.

The motion of confidence also gives the House the opportunity to debate the merits of those who will put themselves before the electorate in early 2016.

The tabling of these motions has more to do with the competition between the Opposition parties than any genuine interest in the conclusion of the commission's interim report.

It has to do with telling the truth.

They want to talk about anything other than the progress our country is making towards economic recovery and securing that recovery. Deputy Martin has repeatedly accused me of sacking the former Garda Commissioner.

He is right. Deputy Shatter believes it to be the case.

The conclusion of the Fennelly report, written by a retired Supreme Court judge, states clearly that it was not the case.

What does he say about the Attorney General?

Deputy Martin should, therefore, correct the record of the Dáil. If he fails to do so, he will follow the long tradition of Fianna Fáil leaders who refuse to accept the findings of sworn judicial inquiries. The difference this time-----

(Interruptions).

Not for the first time.

How about the Moriarty tribunal? The Taoiseach has not accepted it.

The Taoiseach was long enough trying to accept it. He has not followed through on any of it.

What about the suitcase full of cash? Back a horse.

I note that Fianna Fáil's spokesman for justice writes to a judge now and again as well.

The Taoiseach writes a fair few letters himself.

He wrote some to the Revenue Commissioners, did he not?

He just appoints them to the Bench.

The difference this time is that Deputy Martin will do so while the commission is active. This would be nothing other than an irresponsible attempt by him to undermine the ongoing work of the commission for narrow political advantage.

What about the Attorney General?

Sinn Féin, not to be outdone by their rivals - or, should I say, their partners - decided to include the Attorney General in the motion.

Look what the Taoiseach is doing to his partnership.

Nothing could be more ill-judged. Let me take this opportunity to say publicly that I have absolute confidence in the Attorney General, Máire Whelan, and in her handling of the very serious issues that have given rise to the establishment of the Fennelly commission and other matters of State.

There is the partnership arrangement.

Circling the wagons.

She is a diligent and exceptionally hard-working Attorney General who provides outstanding service to the Government and the country.

In early 2016, the people of Ireland will have a clear choice between government and chaos. People can choose stability and progress or risk our economic recovery to those who wrecked it in the past or those whose policies would wreck it in the future. I look forward very much to presenting the case for the re-election of the Fine Gael-Labour Party partnership Government because we have the best plan and the best strategy to secure the national recovery and to ensure that its benefits are felt throughout the land and by all our people.

Will the Taoiseach be allowed out to do it?

The Government did a very good job on the housing situation.

I, therefore, commend the motion to the House.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

Are the Government Members not going to clap?

I call the Tánaiste

(Interruptions).

I am sorry, but would you ever stay quiet please? There is a limited time for the debate. Thank you. The Tánaiste, without interruption.

The joint enterprise is not coming together.

Before I begin, I want to apologise to the House because I cannot stay for the duration of the debate as I am due at-----

-----the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection.

Are the Fine Gael lads not staying for the speech?

I am sure Members of the House will understand.

It is about the importance of the Scandinavian child care model.

The rule of law is essential to democracy.

The Tánaiste should reverse the cuts that she would not discuss with Gavin Jennings.

The Garda Síochána, which is charged with upholding the law, must also operate within the law. We owe the Garda a great deal. The force has been essential to the stability of this State and the preservation of security through some extremely turbulent times. Members of the force have lost their lives in the process. The difficult and dangerous job that members face must never be forgotten. The Garda has rightly long enjoyed the trust and respect of the overwhelming majority of citizens. The Cabinet met on March 25 last year amid a number of controversies that had beset the force and - I can say - were doing no favours to it. These controversies were threatening to erode the widely held trust and respect in the force. The Government did not want to see such a situation materialise. At the meeting, the Cabinet was briefed on an additional issue that had emerged, namely, the taping system in place at a large number of Garda stations. Faced with these serious matters, the Cabinet took a number of decisions. We agreed to establish a commission of investigation. We agreed to accept the retirement of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Crucially, we reiterated our commitment to extensive reform of policing in this State through the establishment of an independent policing authority. In politics, Governments are frequently accused of failing to act on issues. This was the precise opposite: the Government took decisive action to have serious concerns investigated and serious reforms initiated. I stand by those decisions.

I have full confidence in the Taoiseach and I have full confidence in the Attorney General, who was central to ensuring the concerns around the force would be investigated fully and appropriately. The Fennelly commission was subsequently established and tasked with investigating, among other things, the taping system and its origins and legality or otherwise; the recordings and events linked to the investigation into the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier; the furnishing to the then Minister for Justice and Equality of a letter that had been sent by former Commissioner Callinan to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality; and the sequence of events leading up to the retirement of Mr. Callinan. We now have the interim report of Mr. Justice Fennelly. I welcome that report, which deals with the issue of the letter and the retirement of the Garda Commissioner. As the report notes and I have mentioned, a number of other events that occurred in the period preceding the former Garda Commissioner’s retirement, including the treatment of whistleblowers, embroiled the force in public controversy. The report makes it clear that the ultimate decision to retire lay with the then Garda Commissioner and that no directive was issued by the Taoiseach to Mr. Callinan. It is also clear from the report that Mr. Callinan dealt with the circumstances of his retirement in an extremely dignified fashion. It is clear that the Attorney General did her job, first, by ensuring potentially vital evidence in a matter of serious public concern was not destroyed and, second, by bringing her concerns rightly to the Taoiseach for onward submission to the Government.

Now, the Opposition would have it that somehow all of this amounted to some massive overreaction by the Government.

She changed her evidence.

I want to make two points in relation to this. First, had we not established a commission of investigation into these matters the Government would rightly stand accused, particularly by the people gracing the Opposition benches. I think everybody knows that. The Members know that themselves but we established the commission and we ensured these matters would be fully and appropriately investigated. Second, the investigation into the wider matter of the taping system is continuing and has not yet concluded. Anybody attempting to down play that particular issue to score points against the Government is prejudging Mr. Justice Fennelly's independent work.

I remain clear in my view that these were matters of significant public concern and merited investigation, and I challenge anybody on the Opposition benches to say otherwise. In terms of process, Mr. Justice Fennelly's interim report identifies a series of deficiencies that require careful consideration. In that respect, its findings are in keeping with the report of the independent review group on the Department of Justice and Equality, chaired by Mr. Toland, which examined the performance, management and administration of the Department. It is important to note that a series of actions are being taken to implement the recommendations of the review group report which will address deficiencies also identified by the commission.

The Government has already acted on what, in my view, is potentially the most important policing reform in many years. In keeping with long-standing Labour Party policy, the Government is establishing an independent policing authority to provide public oversight of policing services. The new authority will be able to demand reports and information and will hold regular public meetings with the Garda Commissioner and with senior Garda management. At these meetings the leadership of the Garda force will be required to account for their policies and priorities in an open and transparent forum. I believe this is a very positive development for the Garda because it will help ensure that trust and respect for the force is maintained and preserved. The policing authority is a fundamental, critical reform and the Government will not be found wanting if further reforms are necessary. In the same vein, the Government is delivering additional investment in the force to ensure it has the resources it needs, with more recruits and more vehicles coming on line and a commitment to invest in a significant update of its IT platforms. Indeed, I was delighted, only a few weeks ago, to attend the latest passing out ceremony in Templemore, a place that was shut down for recruitment purposes by the Fianna Fáil Party in 2009.

The track record of this Government has been one of delivery.

We have delivered a successful turnaround from the worst economic crisis this country has ever known and we are now working to cement the economic recovery and drive social renewal. Slowly but surely - too slowly for many of us - we can see signs of recovery and renewal. We have one of the fastest growth rates, if not the fastest growth rate, in the European Union. More important, however, 1,300 new jobs are being created every week, international investment is choosing Ireland, consumer confidence is increasing and, very significantly, two in every three people believe the country is on the right economic track.

That is not what last night's poll on RTE found.

A capital plan to be published by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, next week will increase investment in road, rail, broadband, housing, other essential infrastructure, such as schools and primary care centres, and job creation, both in terms of indigenous industry through Enterprise Ireland and foreign direct investment through IDA Ireland, and will create many thousands of new jobs to underpin future growth. A new, improved and enhanced apprenticeship system will drive opportunities for young people alongside places for people who wish to go to college. A budget will be published next month which will raise living standards for a second year in a row, helping low and middle income workers, families, retired people and the vulnerable. We have provided for free general practitioner care for children aged under six years and people aged over 70 years, new schools across the country and a record €3.8 billion social housing programme over the next few years. We have also introduced marriage equality and new gender recognition laws.

After harrowing and extremely difficult times for many people and businesses, including the loss of 330,000 jobs when the crisis caused by the bank guarantee unfolded, Ireland has made great progress in recent years. As a country, we now stand at a moment of great potential and we need to seize this potential for all the people in this country to provide a real recovery dividend that is felt across society not only in business, education and the community, but also in areas such as culture.

Most of the time, I see on the Opposition benches only parties and politicians who either ran this country down or talked it down.

The Tánaiste must be looking in the mirror.

The Government, in tandem with the people, is working to bring this country up-----

(Interruptions).

We have one minute left.

There are many things wrong with the country that we want to improve and make better-----

The Tánaiste is one of them.

-----but there are also many things that the people have achieved. The Deputies opposite should at least have the perspective to be able to recognise and acknowledge these achievements. We have stability, recovery and renewal and we will realise our country's potential to be better for all. As Tánaiste and leader of the Labour Party, I support the motion.

I do not intend to speak about the slogan "It's Labour's way or Frankfurt's way"; that can wait for another day.

It is now very much Labour's way.

(Interruptions).

Order, please.

As this Government reaches its final days-----

You got your answer, Micheál.

The Tánaiste should speak a little louder than she did in Carlow-Kilkenny.

As the Government reaches its final days, its refusal to be straight with the people about anything-----

Gavin Jennings got his way too.

Would you respect your leader, please?

Go on. Run out the door.

-----has become its defining feature. Through nearly every Department, it actively works to hide information and reject accountability. It is so obsessed with trying to sell a fairy tale of decisive leadership that it has no time to recognise, let alone address, the enormous and entirely avoidable crises that have emerged during its term. The withholding of information, twisting of statistics and refusal to answer questions has reached unprecedented levels, and this constant refusal to be open and honest with the people reached new depths in the Taoiseach's behaviour during and after the events investigated by Mr. Justice Fennelly. The report is damning and the facts that it details are much worse than anything alleged in the House. It is a mark of how low Fine Gael and the Labour Party have now sunk that they claim as vindication a report that shows chaos at the centre of the Government and a Taoiseach incapable of owning up to the implications of his own actions. To them, accountability is merely something you demand of other people.

This debate has been stage-managed to avoid any hard questions yet again and to provide a platform for the Government's ridiculous self-praise and empty politics. Not one member of the Government is capable of accepting the unequivocal evidence that the Taoiseach's actions on 24 March 2015 represented the effective sacking of the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána. This is not some minor and insignificant issue. The departure of the head of an independent police force due to pressure from the head of the Government and an attempt to hide this pressure would be a major scandal in any democratic society. What the Fennelly report shows is a Taoiseach who panicked when he heard from the Attorney General about a serious issue. He reached conclusions without hearing all the evidence and has since then tried to hide, twist, turn and then deny the impact of his own actions. The Taoiseach did not even ring the Garda Commissioner to find out the full facts. The Taoiseach did not even ring his Minister for Justice and Equality the day the Attorney General came in. It is a fact that not one single piece of information concerning the events that led to the effective sacking of the Garda Commissioner was volunteered by the Taoiseach. Everything was dragged out of him. On the day of the Commissioner's departure, the Taoiseach informed the Opposition of the event two hours after it had appeared in the media. He then came into the House and praised himself for being so open and attacked me for asking for more information. He only confirmed that the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality was sent with a message to the Commissioner's house when I asked him a direct question on it the following day. Then, of course, he went on the attack again, saying it was beneath me to suggest that there was anything more to the story. The Taoiseach refused to answer detailed questions or to have any debate after which he or any Minister would answer questions. He has steadfastly refused to answer questions on this for 18 months and his only objective is to bury it as quickly as he possibly can. What the Fennelly report has shown is that there was a lot more that was being withheld from the Dáil and from the Irish people.

As has been said, because of how this debate has been structured by the Government, there is nowhere near enough time to go through the full range of damning evidence contained in the report. However, the basic facts concerning the Taoiseach's behaviour during and after the main events are not complicated, and show that only the most partisan of hacks could believe his spin. The concerns raised by the Attorney General were serious and worth addressing immediately. What they did not warrant was the rush to judgment and scapegoating that the Taoiseach then engaged in. It is quite extraordinary that the Taoiseach did not contact the Minister for Justice and Equality after the Attorney General spoke to him. He was, after all, the line Minister responsible for justice matters. The Taoiseach admits that he had grave concerns, that these focused on the actions of gardaí and that he felt they merited an unprecedented late-night visit to the Garda Commissioner by a senior civil servant. He also admits that he decided that the Commissioner was to be given no opportunity to defend himself. What is shocking about this is that it was based on the entirely false belief on the Taoiseach's part that the Commissioner had failed to inform the Government of the discovery of potentially illegal taping in Garda stations. The report shows that the Commissioner had fully discharged his responsibility to bring the issue to the attention of both the Attorney General and the Department of Justice and Equality - in the case of the Attorney General, four months in advance of that March date. The reason the Taoiseach rushed to judgment and denied the man a right to be heard was that, as always, he was putting politics first. He wanted it dealt with before Cabinet so he could stop political problems and defend the Minister and Attorney General whom he had appointed. It is striking that he has not had the decency to admit that he should have heard all the evidence before rushing to judgment. He has not been able to admit any error or express any regret.

If one goes beyond the fact that the Commissioner was pushed out on the basis of incomplete and incorrect assumptions, there is also the matter of the Taoiseach's lack of honesty in refusing to admit the clear and obvious implications of a course of action for which he alone was responsible. The Government has put everything into spinning one line concerning his intent. It is as shallow a defence as it is cynical. Four people - the then holders of the offices of Tánaiste, Minister for Justice and Equality, Secretary General of the Government and Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality - knew about the Taoiseach's actions, and all disagree with his version. They reject the Taoiseach's claim that he had no idea that he might be forcing the Commissioner to resign. It is a well established legal principle that it is extremely hard to prove intent in the absence of recorded evidence. In this case, the Taoiseach says he had no intention of forcing the Commissioner out. Even those naive or blinkered enough to accept this face the reality that others believed his intention was to force the Commissioner out and that the Commissioner was in no doubt that he felt he was being forced out. More importantly, Mr. Justice Fennelly himself says that, irrespective of what the Taoiseach believed, the reasonable interpretation was that the Taoiseach wanted the Commissioner gone and the actions he ordered achieved that intended outcome. Everyone else thought he was telling the Commissioner to go. The Commissioner thought - he was under no illusions - he was telling him to go and no alternative option was suggested. However, the Taoiseach is incapable of admitting this.

The fact that the Taoiseach had to be questioned more than once and that his answers evolved significantly is unmissable. So too is another piece of information that the Taoiseach withheld from the Dáil and the public - that he demanded that the resignation be effective immediately rather than taking place some months later. The report outlines how the Taoiseach had a sleepless night before he decided not to agree to the former Commissioner's request to stay in position for another two to three months, yet he also said he was very surprised when he was told of the resignation of the Commissioner. The argument that delaying the resignation was legally impossible is nonsense. This happens all the time in the Irish public service. Announcing in advance that one will retire early is standard practice. In fact, the Government is currently deciding who to appoint as President of the High Court as the incumbent has announced that he will retire early at the end of the year. What makes this scandal more squalid is that the Labour Party and Fine Gael have reached a deal to support each other in order to protect their own. Nothing else explains how Labour refuses to say anything or how Fine Gael is leaving the Attorney General untouched. The Attorney General is an honourable person and it is a pity that she has failed to do the honourable thing and be accountable for her part in this affair. The fact is that her office was aware of the issue of the tapes four months before the events of March last year. She did not have or present the full information to the Taoiseach and contributed to the unprecedented forced departure of the Garda Commissioner. Yet we have a situation in which it is obvious that the Labour Party is supporting the Taoiseach as a quid pro quo to ensure the Attorney General remains in place.

In recent days, Ministers have been sent out to say that the report mainly shows problems in the Department of Justice and Equality. This is desperate and cynical in equal measure. The panic was not in the Department of Justice and Equality; it was in the Taoiseach's own office. The only person not clear about the intent to force out the Commissioner appears to have been the Taoiseach himself. This is not credible, and deep down everyone in this House knows it. The report states that one of the biggest issues is the lack of any record - of any type - of either the discussions in the Taoiseach's office or the decisions reached.

The Taoiseach will remember well that it took him nearly four years to withdraw a slur against his predecessor about destroying records of a decision when, in fact, 140 documents and everything had been retained. He even self-righteously said: "If the Taoiseach of the day meets a group from [a] constituency, [you] can be sure that whatever it is about, notes will be taken and be there for posterity."

If this report were anything other than damning of the Taoiseach, he would not have put so much effort into manipulating coverage of its launch and contents. The report was made available to media and Members of this House at 5.40 p.m. on 1 September. However, media outlets were reporting for hours beforehand that the Taoiseach had been "vindicated". The only interview the Taoiseach has done on the report was on "Six One News", and this was before any journalist had been given time to read it. To date, he has refused a debate on the report, refused to answer questions, refused to publish the transcript of his appearances before Mr. Justice Fennelly, refused even to acknowledge the disturbing evidence of a panicked and politically driven atmosphere. The Government can spin all it wants; this report shows a deeply dishonest approach. It shows an inability to tell the blindingly obvious truth. It shows a willingness to put politics first and to search for a scapegoat when trouble appears.

We should remember that the root cause of the panicked atmosphere in the Taoiseach's office on those two days in March last year is that he had repeatedly stood by as the justice system was dragged into crisis after crisis. He dismissed urgent issues as they were raised here and in the media. He offered a blanket defence, particularly of his loyal Minister who was at the centre of the chaos. Reaching a situation where a Garda Commissioner was effectively fired on the basis of false assumptions about his failure to act was not an accident. It was the inevitable outcome of how the Taoiseach runs this Government. Whenever an issue emerges, the Taoiseach's first reaction is to deny that there is any problem. He then tells us what a great job his Government is doing. Finally, he just attacks whoever is raising that question.

What makes this serious is that crisis after crisis is allowed to emerge while the Taoiseach and his Ministers carry on their obsession with political spin. In housing, homelessness, crime, hospital waiting lists, Northern Ireland, mortgage debt, unfair contracts, child care, Irish Water and many other issues, problems have been allowed to escalate until they reach crisis level. This is the direct and inevitable outcome of a Government that, from day one, has put politics first in everything. In this debate, we have already heard the greatest fairy tale of all, that of a strong leader lifting his country out of recession. He came to office driven by such a sense of urgency that he did not prepare a budget for nine months, published no new economic plans and only showed energy when breaking the many, many promises he had made in order to win votes. We all remember the promises that the Taoiseach made on the Roscommon emergency department, including the one he denied making until a journalist produced a tape. This type of shiftiness has not gone away. In fact, it has got much worse over the past four and a half years.

The Fennelly report is yet another inquiry report that has been buried in a political snow job in order to protect an arrogant Taoiseach and Government incapable of admitting error. It appropriately bookends his Government's term. It started by ignoring Moriarty and will end by ignoring Fennelly.

The Taoiseach's affection for overblown rhetoric is long established, but it is wrong to let this distract from the claims he makes on his own behalf and on behalf of his Government. In his first speech as Taoiseach, he stood up in this House, accepted the good wishes of all and said:

... today I enter into a covenant with the Irish people... honesty is not alone our best policy but our only policy. The new Government will tell the people the truth regardless of how unwelcome or difficult that might be. We will tell it constantly and unreservedly.

The Taoiseach's basic inability to admit the obvious truth, his attempt politically to spin his way out of accountability and his dismissal of something as serious as the effective firing of the Garda Commissioner due to false and incomplete assumptions mean that Dáil Éireann has the right and obligation to vote no confidence in him.

Following the calamity of the economic crash under the last Fianna Fáil-led Government, the Fine Gael and Labour parties assumed office with a huge mandate for political change. The new Government had the chance and, in particular, the support of the majority of citizens in making a new beginning. Ach mar a d'fhoghlaim muintir an Stáit seo go daor, níor tharla athrú ar bith. This is clear in the scandal surrounding the departure of the former Garda Commissioner.

Although the Fennelly report deals with a number of issues relating to the crisis within An Garda Síochána, including a damning indictment of the Attorney General, the most controversial aspect of the investigation is whether the Taoiseach sacked former Garda Commissioner Callinan. This is a serious allegation. The Taoiseach has always denied sacking him. Under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the power to remove the Commissioner from his or her position can only be exercised by the Cabinet. For the Taoiseach to act alone would undoubtedly be an abuse of power. It would also be unlawful. Mr. Callinan stepped down just hours after a late night visit ordered by An Taoiseach to his home by the then Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell. We now know that this visit was the "immediate catalyst" for the Commissioner's resignation. The Taoiseach, in sending Mr. Purcell against Mr. Purcell's best instincts to Mr. Callinan's home, in effect sacked the Commissioner. The commission found that the visit of Mr. Purcell to the Commissioner's home was "an event without precedent". It concluded: "When all circumstances are viewed objectively, the mission on which Mr Purcell was being sent was liable to be interpreted as suggesting to the Commissioner that he should consider his position." It is accepted by the commission that Mr. Purcell explained to the Commissioner that the Taoiseach may not have been in a position to be able to express confidence in the Commissioner following the next day's Cabinet meeting. The Tánaiste of the day, Deputy Gilmore, stated that the Taoiseach told him that this was his position. The Taoiseach denies this.

The Fennelly commission also accepted that Commissioner Callinan had "no option but to retire". Although the commission report states that the decision to retire was still the Commissioner's to make, "the Commissioner was not wrong to arrive at the conclusion that he was expected to consider his position". The visit of Mr. Purcell is described by the commission as the "immediate catalyst" and "direct cause" for the Garda Commissioner's decision to retire. The interim report tells of how the Taoiseach refused to allow the Commissioner time to clear his desk, as the latter had requested. The Taoiseach demanded that he go immediately.

When the Government published the report recently but before we and journalists had sight of it, the Taoiseach was doing interviews on this issue with journalists who had not read about what he was discussing. It was a classic case of media management. Is this the transparent government that Fine Gael and Labour promised? Is this the end of the old-style politics, which they were mandated to do?

The dubious actions of the Taoiseach and his inner circle in the events leading to the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner leads to unavoidable comparisons with the Fianna Fáil style of government. Let us be clear, in that Sinn Féin would not have objected or complained had the Taoiseach gone to the Cabinet and moved a motion seeking the Garda Commissioner's resignation, given the months of scandals and revelations leading up to the actual retirement. This would be the view of the majority of citizens. That is what the Taoiseach should have done. He should have given the Commissioner the opportunity to give his side of the story. He should have consulted the Minister for Justice and Equality, but he did none of these things. He was not straight with the Commissioner or the Minister. That is my main point.

The Taoiseach carried this lack of straightness into his remarks today.

He has yet to tell Members how many times he was interviewed by the Fennelly commission. Most of what has been revealed to the Fennelly commission was not reported to the Dáil. Most of what Members have learned was not learned here, where they are supposed to keep the Government accountable, but through reading this interim report. On this basis alone, Sinn Féin has no confidence in An Taoiseach or the Attorney General.

However, it also has no confidence in the Government because the Taoiseach has made it clear repeatedly that he remains ideologically wedded to a destructive austerity agenda that is doing much damage to society when what is needed is a complete change in political direction. This society now faces a choice and the fundamental ideological difference between Sinn Féin and the deeply unpopular Government is that Sinn Féin believes in a real republic and a citizen-centred rights-based society.

The Government's budgets have been among the most regressive in the State's history. Society has become increasingly polarised under Fine Gael and the Labour Party. One third of children now live in consistent poverty. The crises in housing and health have escalated to an alarming degree. The disastrous economic policies initiated by Fianna Fáil and continued by Fine Gael and the Labour Party have seen more than €30 billion taken out of the economy in taxes and cuts.

Moreover, the Government's mantra that we are all in this together is a monstrous untruth. Many citizens have suffered greatly, while those who were protected again are first in line to benefit under the Government. Those being forced to pay the price for Government policies are families on lower and middle incomes. Those paying the price are families who have been impoverished by the family home tax, the universal social charge and water charges.

The Government, like others before it, has embraced forced emigration as a policy. Half a million people, with huge damage societally to communities and families, have been forced to emigrate since 2008.

It is 50% down.

Young people continue to leave in their droves because of poor opportunities, low wages and a lack of access to housing and child care. Those paying for the Government's policies include lone parents and others who have had their child benefit and back-to-school allowances slashed.

The folks in government sat around the Cabinet and took these decisions. They took decisions to remove discretionary medical cards from thousands of seriously ill and disabled children and adults. Collectively, the Government took the decision. Sick people were forced to go without medicine because the Cabinet decided to introduce prescription charges, despite promises not to so do. The Cabinet decided to cut home help hours, the mobility grant and annual respite care grants. The Cabinet took these decisions. As for public hospitals, one in eight people on a waiting list is in a queue for more than a year and in January 2015, there were 600 patients on trolleys. These people are paying the price for the Government's policies. Some people must wait for four years before seeing a consultant. There are 90,000 families on the social housing waiting list and 104,693 households are in mortgage arrears. Under the present Government, legal proceedings to repossess homes have increased tenfold. Rents still are increasing and the number of homeless children continues to rise.

All these people, these citizens, these unfortunates, live in the best small country in the world in which to do business, but who did the Taoiseach protect? What did Fine Gael and the Labour Party do and whom did they look after? They certainly protected the property developers. NAMA has been allowed to pay developers' salaries of €200,000 a year while the Government has taken medical cards from children. The Government protected bondholders and billions have been paid to international junior and senior bondholders who gambled on unstable banks while the Government broke its social bond with the people. The Government protected the vulture capitalists and billions of euro worth of Irish assets are being subjected to a fire sale while the citizens pick up the losses. The Government protects the tiny wealthy elites in the State. Wealth tax and tax relief loopholes have been allowed to continue. The Minister for Finance refuses to come to the Dáil to account for the sell-off of NAMA's Northern loan book or to answer questions about insider dealings. No, why should he? Why should he be accountable here?

The Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach are about protecting the elites, the golden circles and the insiders. In budget 2015, instead of easing the burden on those who have suffered the most over the past four years, Fine Gael and the Labour Party prioritised helping the richest 10%. They protected the banks. A total of €64 billion of the public's money was pumped into the banks and then bank managers were allowed to pay themselves €800,000 a year while they kept mortgage interest rates high and threatened families with eviction. The Government objectively has failed to get a resolution to the problem of legacy debt. Instead, the Taoiseach stated he will not have "Defaulter" stamped on his forehead. He refused even to try to face up to the elites in the European Union.

Moreover, just like Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party continued political appointments to State boards and failed to act on the high salaries for politicians, in banking or on State boards. The Government's high regard for the arts was clear from the manner in which it appointed one of its own, John McNulty, to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It has ignored the demands of hundreds of thousands of citizens who have taken to the streets repeatedly to demand that it scrap domestic water charges. The Government's first launch of the commemoration of 1916 was an embarrassment. It was a joke but it also was an accurate insight into the attitude of the Labour Party and Fine Gael to the Rising, to its leaders and, more particularly, to the Proclamation of 1916.

As for the peace process, the most significant political development on this island since partition, Fine Gael and the Labour Party have failed to act as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. Instead, to their shame, they have sought to use the peace process to attack Sinn Féin and the Government has acquiesced continually in the approach of the British Tory Government. The Taoiseach has failed miserably to press the British on legacy issues such as the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and the Pat Finucane inquiry. While the Taoiseach might mention it for the record at a meeting, he has no consistent strategic engagement with the British on all these issues. Most recently, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Fianna Fáil leader played politics with the brutal murders of two men in Belfast. The Taoiseach tried to pressurise the SDLP into supporting the adjournment of the Assembly while the Fianna Fáil leader went further and called for the suspension of the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement, an agreement his party played an honourable role in bringing about. Time and again I have asked the Taoiseach to make the North a priority and he has refused to do so.

The Taoiseach assumed office with a promise of a democratic revolution as he is aware that is what the people want. The rhetoric rings true and those who write the Taoiseach's script are aware there is an urgency and a desire among people for fundamental change. However, he has proved to be as adept as his Fianna Fáil predecessors in practising unaccountable Government and stroke politics. Irish Water now is a byword for unaccountability, the scandalous waste of public money and insider politics. The Government has characterised the forthcoming elections as a choice between stability and chaos, but there is no stability for low-paid workers, those on zero-hour contracts, and patients and front-line workers facing chaos in hospital accident and emergency departments. There is no stability for families facing the prospect of losing their homes because the Government will not put manners on the banks. It is easy to put manners on the poor but the Government will not put manners on the elites. The Taoiseach's idea of stability is different from that of most citizens. His idea of stability is the maintenance of a deeply unequal status quo and that is not the stability the people need or want. The people seek change and if the Taoiseach really believes, for once, what he says, he should go to the people and let them have their day. He should resign now and let the people govern. The Taoiseach should call a general election now.

The Technical Group speaking slot is being shared by Deputies Clare Daly, Ruth Coppinger, Mick Wallace, Maureen O'Sullivan and Michael Fitzmaurice. The Deputies have three minutes each.

Deputy Daly and I are swapping speaking slots. She is a bit shy.

Is the Deputy shy?

I am very shy.

I am too but I will try to overcome it.

I have only three minutes to address a 300-page report, all of which, believe it or not, I have read and found very interesting. I believe Mr. Justice Fennelly did a very thorough job, which must have been very difficult for him given his finding that senior people in government appeared at certain times to be contradicting each other 100%. I am sure that reading over the report of his investigation caused him to laugh a little because he would have known that there was no way he could have made any of it up.

Why in God's name if the Taoiseach wanted more information on Sunday, 23rd and Monday, 24th did he not contact the Garda Commissioner and ask him in for a chat? The Attorney General appears to have taken the same position as the Taoiseach. She said that the people in possession of all the information about the circumstances were An Garda Síochána. Why, if the Garda Commissioner was the person who had all the information, did the Attorney General not contact him? It is blatantly obvious that former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, was sidelined. Leaving aside that the Taoiseach did not reply to his text at Sunday lunchtime, he made only one attempt to telephone him and left it at that. Deputy Shatter was not asked to attend the meeting on Sunday night and was not even notified that he might be called on Monday evening. It does not stack up.

I find it hard to credit that the Taoiseach did not want to put some pressure on the Garda Commissioner to go. We know it was not only about the tapes because the Garda Commissioner was not responsible for them. Along with other Deputies, I called for his removal long before then. However, we would have suggested that he be removed within the rules of the game in here. In actual fact, he was pushed. If the Taoiseach did not want him to go he would not have sent the Secretary General to his house in the middle of the night to tell him that he was concerned. I do not think the Taoiseach would have sent the Secretary General there for that reason. The Taoiseach says he sent the Secretary General there to get more information. Mr. Purcell has a different interpretation of the situation and was horrified at the idea of even being asked to go to the Garda Commissioner's house.

The Taoiseach says he did not want the Garda Commissioner to resign. Why then, when the Commissioner asked for three months grace, which was later reduced to two, did the Taoiseach tell him he had to go immediately? If the Taoiseach did not want the Garda Commissioner to resign, could he not have refused his resignation? Could he not have called him in and had a chat about it? The Taoiseach wanted him to go because he had become a political liability but the manner in which he carried that out has left too much to be desired.

We are being asked today to vote confidence in the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. I begin by expressing solidarity with the homeless families in Blanchardstown who are currently occupying a NAMA-built home. They stayed there over night and, by their actions, clearly have no confidence in the Taoiseach or his Government.

Last night, I slept on a concrete floor with some of the families who are the victims of this Government's inaction. They asked me to deliver personally to the Taoiseach the message that they have no confidence in him and are now driven to desperation. This Government has done nothing to stop rents escalating, to introduce rent controls or stop repossessions, all of which factors have made tens of thousands of people homeless and left them dumped in hotels for months on end and forgotten. Now, they are saying: "We can't and we won't wait any longer for housing: it's time for you to go."

One woman, who is pregnant, slept in the house last night because she cannot face the idea of her third child being born into hotel life. Another woman who came to this country ten years ago for a better life has had to give up her PhD studies in favour of her child's education because, as she and her child are homeless and living in a hotel, they are miles from her child's school. That woman cried this afternoon while talking to journalists.

The previous Government slowed down council house building. This Government has completely stalled it. It has sat on its hands for two years as this crisis escalated and worsened despite many warnings. During the summer, some Ministers blamed the homeless agencies for not doing enough. Everybody is to blame but this Government. What is the solution? First, something must be done about rents. The Government has being talking for more than a year about doing something about rent controls and house building. Houses will not come through the Government's friends, the private developers. That will never happen. They are not interested and they are not able. They could be provided through NAMA, the State agency that over the past two years sucked in billions of euros of taxpayers' money, all of which proceeds go back to the banks and not into the public purse. NAMA should be turned into a vehicle for ending the homeless crisis. There are 120 families in Blanchardstown who are homeless and 120 houses currently being built in Diswellstown Manor by NAMA. Why should those houses be sold to wealthy people when poorer people need them? It is up to the Government to fund councils to build houses. It could also change NAMA's brief and give it the authority to become a factor in the housing crisis. Is the Taoiseach willing to do that? Is the Tánaiste, who is largely responsible for this crisis, willing to do it? It is for the Taoiseach to answer those questions. People on the ground will not wait much longer and will take further actions such as that outlined.

This is an insult to the population and this House. The manner in which the Taoiseach presented this previously was quite breath-taking. I do not know how many people here have read the report but I have read it more than once. The version of it which the Taoiseach has presented to this House belies its actual content. Let us look at what Mr. Justice Fennelly actually says about the Attorney General. He says that he is satisfied that she spoke in strong terms about the wholesale unlawful activity of the Garda, a conclusion not reached by her assistant who did a report that was very different. He also says that the Attorney General substantially modified her evidence months after she was asked to give that evidence in the first instance. He further says it is inescapable that she presented an alarming picture at meetings and that she made no effort to contact the then Minister for Justice and Equality or the Garda Commissioner despite a senior civil servant offering a face-to-face meeting with the Garda Commissioner on Monday morning. The Taoiseach has the neck to come in here and ask us to express confidence in the Attorney General. We have no more confidence in her than we do in him.

The Taoiseach has today presented a picture of An Garda Síochána as an organisation that he has reformed. He also said that he has given protection to whistleblowers. Currently there are two serving whistleblowers in the Garda service, one of whom Assistant Commissioner Nolan, who is mentioned in the Fennelly report in relation to former Garda Commissioner Callinan destroying evidence, has been asked to initiate a disciplinary hearing in respect of a senior officer on foot of a complaint by one of those whistleblowers, despite having already leaked information to that same officer on foot of a complaint by another serving whistleblower. This is the Taoiseach's newly reformed Garda Síochána. The Bill presented to this House is a watered down version of the heads of Bill presented last year and is a pale shadow of the legislation for a real independent Garda authority as presented to this House by Deputy Wallace.

Last night, many people around the country will have heard on a programme on RTE, which is hardly a vehicle for revolutionary propaganda, that on this Government's watch the top 5% of this society have more wealth than the middle 60%. Not only are we not discussing the key issues of the day, but we are ducking, diving and hiding behind spin. It is an absolute disgrace. This Government's legacy will be a lack of reform and a record that makes the previous Government look good.

Earlier, I voted against the proposal to extend the time allocated for this debate not because I disagreed with the proposal, but because I find it bizarre and out of touch that the first topic of discussion in this House following the summer recess is a vote of confidence in the Government, under the guise of the Fennelly commission and its report.

The report is important. It should be debated and there should be an opportunity for questions and probing, but I do not think this should be done in the way it is being done today. In fact, the report is being diluted by being presented through the guise of the vote of confidence or no confidence.

As far as I am concerned the vote of confidence or no confidence is rather misplaced and mistimed because in two months' or five months' time the electorate will have time to show whether they have confidence in this Government. Why is the work of the Dáil, the normal Tuesday business, been diverted, cancelled and delayed? It would be fair enough if this was an emergency, but this debate is not an emergency. It is not an issue for which the Dáil business needed to be changed.

Another issue that is an emergency but which is not being seen as an emergency is housing. Others have alluded to this. There are 1,500 children living in emergency accommodation in Dublin, a 63% increase since last January, and the situation is worsening. Another emergency for which we could have changed the Order of Business - the Taoiseach met the group last week - relates to the disability group and the stark and heartbreaking findings they presented to the Taoiseach. I met them as well and I have met them previously on many occasions. Fully 68% of those using disability services say they are of poor quality while 93% of those in residential homes have indicated that the homes have been found to be lacking in certain standards.

Whether the former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, was pushed, shoved, encouraged or went of his own volition, what difference does it make to the real issues taking up the lives of the people I represent or those represented by others here? We are all public servants, we are all answerable and we are all here to serve the public. I know the Department of Justice and Equality needs reform but as far as I am concerned the emergencies involving real people and the issues they have to deal with in their lives are more of a reason to change the Order of Business, rather than this bizarre debate that we are having for three hours today.

That is the most sensible contribution I have heard so far.

When I read the Fennelly report I wonder whether it is like two lives. When I go to one page I read one thing but there is nearly a contradiction on the next page. I must question one thing. Were the participants or the players too big to give the real truth regarding what went on? I believe, and I do not think anyone in the country would disagree, that given what went on during the committee meetings with regard to Mr. Callinan, he had to go. There is no doubt about it. However, it is a question of the way the Government went about that. Mr. Purcell was sent off. It reminds me of the film "The Field". He was The Bird. He was sent off to give the news to the widow and he went.

Let us consider other parts of the report. Mr. Callinan wanted two or three months and the Taoiseach pondered. There were ways of doing it and ways of ensuring it was done right. We talk about doing things differently and a different way of policing. The Taoiseach should bear one thing in mind. Our current Commissioner sat beside the former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, at the time. If someone is a leader, she should stand up and say what is right. However, when remarks that were not true were made about people in the force, she did not stand up to be counted. We need to have people with bravery to lead the force and if something is said that is wrong, it is unacceptable.

Let us bear in mind the country and where we come from, a part of the world that has been neglected in recent years, namely, the west. We need to think of the hospitals, our elderly and everything that is going on this country. Let us consider David McWilliams's programme last night in which he reported that 100 people increased their wealth more than the rest of our country. That shows us there is something seriously wrong. We heard of the cronyism going and of a different Ireland coming but, sadly, for many people, whether they be homeless, those with disabilities or those waiting on trolleys in hospitals, it is a worse Ireland than the country they had some years ago.

I call on the Taoiseach to reflect on the Fennelly report. As I said, I do not disagree altogether. I will say it clearly: Callinan had to go. However, it is a question of the way the Taoiseach did it. There are ways and means. The Taoiseach should bring in different Ministers, act in a united fashion and make it clear that it is a united decision by a Government.

I believe the Attorney General has questions to answer as well.

The interim report of the Fennelly commission has been published and the conclusions of the report are available for every Member and every member of the public to read. The great expectation from the Opposition to the effect that the report would confirm their versions of events has not materialised. The commission accepts that the Taoiseach did not intend to put pressure on the Garda Commissioner to retire.

Regardless of the actual conclusions of the commission, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin were united in their intention to use the publication of the report as an opportunity to table a confidence motion in the Taoiseach. Of course, that is their prerogative and they prioritise what they believe are the most important issues facing the country at present.

That is not to play down the significance of the interim report. The retirement of a Garda Commissioner is a very serious matter and the decision by the Government to establish a commission of investigation into this matter was the right one. The report identifies a number of failings within the system and these must be corrected. Indeed, they are being corrected by my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, who is leading her Department though a period of major transformation.

This debate is not about the interim report. It is another attempt by the Opposition to take the attention off the biggest issues and challenges facing the country in the weeks, months and years ahead. It is a blatant attempt to keep the focus on the past and undermine the major progress that this Government, led by the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, has made in turning the country around. That is the Opposition's priority today.

I know those in the Opposition do not want to talk about the recovering economy or the fact the public finances are under control. They do not want to talk about the thousands of people who now have a job. I know for certain that they do not want to talk about the future, a future from which, under the leadership of Enda Kenny, every family in the country will benefit. The policies implemented by the Taoiseach and this Government are designed to avoid the boom-and-bust policies of the past and create a future where people can have certainty about their incomes and pensions as well as access to the public services they need. The economic recovery we are seeing is real and is underpinned by the most recent national accounts released by the Central Statistics Office. In the second quarter of this year, real GDP rose by 1.9% relative to the first quarter, and, as a result, was 6.7% higher than in the same period last year. This comes on the back of an increase of 7.2% in the first quarter of this year.

The increase in economic activity is broadly based, unlike in the past when activity was excessively concentrated in the construction sector. We are now seeing the domestic-facing and exporting sectors performing strongly. Exports were strong in the second quarter, growing by 13.6%. The multinational sector is contributing but so too are Irish-owned firms. The competitiveness improvements we have seen in recent years are standing to us. Domestic demand is also growing strongly with consumer spending continuing to recover. These encouraging data are mirrored in strong employment growth as well as tax receipts. By the end of August, tax receipts had increased by almost 10% over the same period last year. Our overriding objective now is to build upon the gains we have made in recent years and secure the recovery. Under the Taoiseach's leadership, this Government will continue to work to ensure the benefits of the economic recovery are widely distributed to families throughout the country and create further jobs.

The recovery that is under way is fragile and must not be taken for granted. Many people throughout the country have been very badly affected and have yet to feel the benefits of the recovering economy.

While large numbers of jobs have been created, the rate of unemployment remains too high. Too many people in work are living on fixed incomes and are still under pressure to make ends meet, and too many of our young people are still working abroad. Introducing policies to address these challenges is the priority of this Government.

The Taoiseach is the leader of a Fine Gael and Labour Party Government that has brought this country back from the edge of bankruptcy and a situation in which more than 300,000 young people were emigrating. He is the leader of a Government that has brought stability to the country. He is the leader of a Government that knows what the challenges facing the people are and is prioritising actions to overcome these challenges. His colleagues in government have absolute confidence in him, and later on this House will vote that it has absolute confidence in him as well.

In passing, I would also like to say that I have full confidence in the Attorney General. She is excellent at her job and is a most dedicated and patriotic woman who works all sorts of late hours to serve the Government with appropriate legal advice. Anyone who expresses no confidence in the Attorney General does not know the effort and work that Ms Máire Whelan puts into her job.

Five years ago, the party with the audacity to table a no-confidence motion brought this country to within an inch of its life. The current Fianna Fáil leader was a member of that Government, but on that occasion he chose to save his political career rather than the country by jumping from that sinking ship. That he would table a no-confidence motion in respect of this Taoiseach is the finest exercise in brass-neckery I have come across in quite some time.

Like other Deputies who have spoken, I have read the Fennelly report very thoroughly. Most of us debated it at some length in the media three weeks ago, and we will have other opportunities to do so. I agree fundamentally with Deputy O'Sullivan that a confidence motion is not the best way of dealing with this matter.

Let us revisit the record of this Government over the past four and a half years, since we are debating a confidence motion.

Then get on with the proposals.

Does the Minister want to discuss it at all?

The Taoiseach has a question.

Before this House is a motion of confidence in the Government. Let us consider the record of the Government in which the Deputies opposite want us to vote no confidence. From being the economic punch bag of Europe in 2010, Ireland is on course to have the strongest economic growth in the European Union this year and next. Recent figures from the CSO show that GDP growth in the second quarter of the year was 6.7% higher than a year earlier and 5.3% higher in GNP terms. Unemployment, which peaked at 15.1% and was rising when we came into government, dropped to 9.5% in August of this year, and continues to fall. Critically, large reductions have been seen not just in the number of people who are short-term unemployed but also in the number of people who are long-term unemployed, which has dropped from a peak of 184,800 to 118,600 and continues to decrease. Some 66,000 individuals who were long-term unemployed have been given the dignity of work. Since the Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012, more than 120,000 additional jobs have been created, exceeding the initial target of 100,000 and much earlier than the deadline we set.

As well as creating the best possible environment for the economy to flourish, we have also sought to ensure the stability of the State’s finances. As per our commitment, the budget deficit, which was 30% or more of GDP in 2010, will fall below 3% this year. Next year the target will be well under 2%. As a result, the debt burden is also falling. Having peaked at 120%, this year it will fall to 108% of GDP. The net debt figure is some 20 points below that when we take account of the assets the State has in its reserves in the form of bank shares and cash.

We fulfilled our key commitment to the Irish people - that is, to ensure Ireland left the Fianna Fáil troika programme at the end of 2014. We renegotiated the poor deal done by Fianna Fáil, which has saved the State and taxpayers billions. Critically, the promissory note negotiated by Fianna Fáil has been torn up and €3 billion in annual payments removed. The economic growth we are experiencing now is structural, sustainable and increasingly broad-based, and the domestic and exporting sectors show strong growth figures.

Jobs are being created in every region of the country. Businesses are investing. However, as a small open economy, we remain open to future shock. We must ensure that the fiscal crisis that befell this country and its people never happens again. That is why we will continue to pursue a prudent course in managing the public finances, investing wisely for the future and providing much-needed services and support to our people, but doing so in a sensible and sustainable way that will not undermine our future.

There are serious issues, many of which were touched upon by earlier speakers. We are dealing with the fallout of the worst crash in our history. That is the mess Fianna Fáil left us, and this Government, having brought us back from the brink, will now pursue the solutions to these problems with the same vigour we brought to bear in addressing the economic problems in the first instance.

The general election will take place in the next six months. The Irish people will be faced with a choice between electing this Government, which can offer stability and prosperity, and electing Fianna Fáil, which broke the country and the party, or Sinn Féin, which is so addicted to the politics of crisis that it is incapable of articulating any sensible, mature or coherent solution to our problem. The people will have their say soon. For today, I am sure that Dáil Éireann will vote confidence in this Government and its fine Attorney General, which have steered the ship of State from chaos to calm.

There are many reasons this Government and the Taoiseach should face a motion of no confidence instead of a motion of confidence today. A motion of no confidence could be tabled due to the record number of families who find themselves homeless in this country due to Government policy. We could debate a motion on how this Government is the first in the history of the State to introduce a tax that loses money. A motion could be tabled condemning the fact that one in eight children in Ireland live in consistent poverty. We could discuss a motion of no confidence in our health service and the many graduates who are fleeing the country. We could discuss how many old people across rural Ireland and our cities live in fear of burglary and crime because of the Government's withdrawal of Garda resources across the country. We could discuss how the Government has pulled up the ladder on many social welfare recipients by introducing consistent cuts to social welfare, its inaction on mortgage arrears, or the regional imbalance of the recovery.

All of these issues are a direct result of decisions made by the people sitting opposite us today. All of them would merit a motion of no confidence, but we are debating a motion of confidence in the Taoiseach as leader of this country. This is an Orwellian turn of events and is, perhaps, a perfect indication of the arrogance that has seeped into the heart of Government Buildings and personnel in recent years.

The Government put forward this motion of confidence in an effort to undermine debate on the failings of the Taoiseach and members of his Government as exhibited in the interim report of the Fennelly commission. After 18 months, the interim report of the commission has been published with a highly co-ordinated PR approach by the spin doctors in Merrion Street to limit damage. The three primary actors in the events - the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, and the former Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell - have all now been forced off the stage. The Attorney General has been heavily criticised in the report, leaving only the Taoiseach claiming he is entirely in the clear. He is not, of course, as he still has many questions to answer.

The report verifies the facts around the resignation of the former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, and fully confirms our view that he was effectively sacked by the Taoiseach. He was, in effect, forced to walk the plank on the instruction of the Taoiseach, with an infamous midnight call to his house by a senior civil servant, which was unprecedented in the history of the State. The report finds that the Taoiseach's confidence in the Commissioner was not guaranteed in the next day's Cabinet meeting, despite the fact that the Commissioner had correctly dealt with the matter in respect of which the Taoiseach had lost confidence in him, namely, the issue of phone recordings in Garda stations. The Commissioner had carried out his legislative duty by informing the Minister for Justice and Equality in a previous letter, dated 10 March, of the matters surrounding the recording of phone conversations in Garda stations.

Yet, it is put forward that the Taoiseach sought to breach illegally section 11 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 which states that only the Government can dismiss the Commissioner. Despite the Commissioner having carried out his duty in informing the Department of Justice and Equality of the phone recordings, the Taoiseach sought to use the issue as a politically expedient smokescreen to remove Martin Callinan to buy cover for the embattled then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter. He did this by instructing the Secretary General at the Department to call to the Commissioner's home late on a Sunday evening and inform him that he no longer had confidence in him.

The Fennelly report notes the immediate catalyst for the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, was the visit of the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to his home, and the message conveyed to him from the Taoiseach during that visit. The Commissioner would not have resigned if Mr. Purcell had not visited him that night. Mr. Purcell would not have visited him that night if it were not for the instruction of the Taoiseach to do so. Mr. Purcell described the meeting as one of the worst days of his career, a strong statement from an experienced public servant who, we recall, was shot in the leg, I think, when he worked in the then Department of Social Welfare, by the criminal known as "The General". In effect, the Taoiseach sacked Martin Callinan.

The report also highlights the serious communication dysfunction at the heart of Government. Serious questions remain as to how senior managers at the Department of Justice and Equality did not know of the Garda recordings, given that it was revealed in November 2013 during the Ian Bailey case, and earlier that year as part of a GSOC report. The fact there was no communication between the Attorney General and the then Minister for Justice and Equality about the matter until the fateful meeting in March in the Taoiseach's office shows a level of dysfunction whereby members of the Cabinet simply did not trust each other on these issues.

It is now evident the Taoiseach misled the House with his statements that he did not order the circumstances which would result in the effective sacking of the Garda Commissioner. The report's findings that the Taoiseach did not intend that outcome do not stand up against the evidence of other key witnesses. The underhanded and dishonest approach of the Taoiseach is at the heart of these events. It is also at the heart of the motion before us today.

This motion is extremely ironic following the revelations of the report. Those findings raise serious questions about the judgment of the Taoiseach in the execution of the powers of his office. The report raises even more questions on the credibility of the Taoiseach in the evidence he gave to the commission. The Irish people already appear to have made a judgment call on this matter, with the vast majority of the citizens of the State refusing to accept the Taoiseach's account of why the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána resigned his post. A poll published by RTE during a "Clare Byrne Live" programme was very telling. It detailed that only 12% of those who responded stated they believed the Taoiseach's version of events. This must be most distressing for the Taoiseach, who promised the people of this country a democratic revolution. It is clear the Government's confidence in its leader can only have been undermined by the interim report.

When proposing Deputy Enda Kenny for the position of Taoiseach in March 2012-----

-----the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, who I am glad is here to listen to me, stated, "Deputy Kenny will bring to the office of the Taoiseach integrity, honesty and a work rate which simply cannot be surpassed". The Fennelly commission raises serious questions surrounding the first two characteristics. The massive failings of the Government on health, housing and Northern Ireland would raise serious questions on the third.

On being successfully elected Taoiseach, Deputy Kenny stated in the House that we stand on the threshold of fundamental change, namely, that of renewal of what political leadership in Ireland should be about, leadership that cherishes responsibility, public duty and conscience over convenience. Does the Taoiseach think the former Commissioner, Martin Callinan, would agree this is a Government of conscience over convenience?

The so-called democratic revolution has given way to a democratic revulsion as to how the Government conducts its business. We have witnessed a total failure to reform the political institutions of our State as witnessed in the Fennelly report. If anything, we have seen the people's trust in our political institutions fall even further under the watch of the Government. Stroke politics, cynical politics and politics for the elite are practised by Fine Gael and the Labour Party instead of the new politics they promised us after the election in 2011. The biggest disappointment of the Government is its failure to learn from mistakes of the past and deliver on its promises for the future. This is on what the people will judge it. This is what will be its undoing.

It is noteworthy that during his statement today in opening this motion of confidence in himself and the Government, the Taoiseach never once referred to the public comments, reported in the press, of the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, who described the Taoiseach's evidence as "fantasy". These were his words and they have been reported. They have not been refuted by anybody. The Taoiseach also failed to address categorically the fact the Attorney General had to alter substantially and change her evidence to the Fennelly commission. Having read the report, as many others have, it has many stand-out moments which the Taoiseach glossed over and failed to record. I will record this, which is a direct quote from page 270, paragraph 8.14. The judge stated:

The Commission has already found that the message delivered by Mr. Purcell in all the attendant circumstances in explicit contemplation of the risk that at the next day's Cabinet meeting the Taoiseach might possibly not be able to express confidence in him, carried with it the obvious implication that the Commissioner's own position was in question. Accepting the Taoiseach assurances ... that he did not intend to put pressure on the Commissioner to retire nonetheless viewed objectively Mr. Purcell's mission was likely to be interpreted as doing just that.

These are the words of the retired Supreme Court judge whom the Taoiseach has quoted to us today and it is on the record.

I wish to share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris.

I am glad to have an opportunity to express full confidence in the Taoiseach and also in the Attorney General, both of whom I have worked with. This is my first time to be involved in a government. The Government has faced difficult challenges, but I have to say the leadership that has come from the top has been extraordinarily powerful and positive, something which was not evident in the previous Government when it faced many challenges similar to those we faced when we took office. There is an irony in the fact the leader of Fianna Fáil, who was in government at that time and who left government before an election, has now decided to force a confidence motion in the Taoiseach who has solved many of the problems he totally failed to deal with.

In terms of the specifics of the issue at hand with regard to the Fennelly report, there is much in the report of concern. There is much in the Fennelly report which requires a Government response, and it is getting a Government response through what is probably the most fundamental reform of our justice infrastructure in Ireland we have seen certainly in my lifetime in politics-----

That is why we do not have a Secretary General.

-----and it is happening.

You voted down the Garda authority Bill twice.

You do not even have a Secretary General.

The issue is unfortunately-----

What is in the report that you are talking about?

It informs us all of the real weight behind the intent of Deputy Martin today that, really, the contrived outrage we have heard today was given with a semi-smirk, which I think is-----

I beg your pardon, it was not.

-----which I think is----

Where did he give it with a smirk?

We have had it for most of your contribution today, Deputy.

Not during my speech, no. How dare you.

The Minister has the floor.

At least tell the truth. You are talking nonsense.

You are talking through your hat.

I am not talking through my hat. The reality is, Deputy-----

-----you are talking through your hat.

Put up the evidence.

You are trying to rewrite a report-----

I do not have to.

-----that has actually answered the question as to whether-----

You will not answer one.

You have been making the accusation for well over a year.

The Taoiseach has not answered one question in 18 months.

You do not want to hear it. That is the problem. You do not want to hear it when it does not suit your argument.

You do not want to read it when it does not suit your argument.

I have read it and there is not much to hear from you.

The truth is-----

You are not entitled to your own facts.

-----this report states quite clearly that the commission accepts that the Taoiseach did not intend to put pressure on the Garda Commissioner to retire, but you will not accept that.

Read the rest of it.

You will not accept it because you do not want to accept the facts that have come from a commission of inquiry and a senior judge, as they do not suit your political argument. The truth is that you bet the house on a different result-----

-----and it did not transpire. Now that it has not transpired, you have actually ignored-----

-----the assessment of the only person who has interviewed everybody involved in the issue.

Do you believe that?

Only 12% of people believe him.

That is the reality.

It is similar to your poll rating.

You are part of the 12%.

It smacks a little of desperation when Deputy Collins's strongest argument is a poll on an RTE television show.

The strongest argument is Fennelly.

That is the basis-----

The strongest argument is Fennelly.

That is the basis for the strength of that argument.

The strongest argument is the Tánaiste's testimony and that of the former Minister, Deputy Shatter-----

Please. The Minister has the floor.

-----and the Secretary General.

The truth is-----

The Minister dismisses the public at his own peril.

I have not dismissed anybody except you.

That is your job.

You are dismissing the public. That shows the arrogance that surrounds you.

Deputy Niall Collins, please. The Minister has the floor.

This is a confidence motion that should not have been necessary. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan was absolutely correct.

The Government did not want to discuss this at all.

We have some serious issues that need to be resolved in Ireland right now regarding homelessness, housing, the challenges of child care and poverty. There are continuing challenges in the economy on which we are continuing to work and from which we are getting good results. That is what we should be debating on the first day back, when people are listening to their politicians and leaders. We have had a lengthy break over the summer months and people want to hear what we have to say; they want us solving their problems and not playing the kind of party politics that Deputy Martin is playing with a motion of no confidence that was announced immediately, more or less, after the Fennelly report was published. By the way, that happened the day after it was given to the Taoiseach, and I am not sure if we have ever seen that kind of pace in publishing a report of this complexity. It was an indication that the Taoiseach was anxious to get it out there and deal with the issue as soon as he could.

Instead of judging the report from what is in it, the Deputies opposite are trying to create another political controversy in order to get some negative momentum around the start of a new Dáil term. That is a reflection of where those Deputies are coming from.

I, too, am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to this motion of confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government. I am pleased to have the opportunity but also frustrated, along with Deputy O'Sullivan, that we will spend such a significant amount of time on the opening day of this Dáil session discussing a report that has been out in the public domain for quite a long time already. I am pleased to reiterate my support for the ongoing efforts of this Government, being led by An Taoiseach. It is a Government that is attempting to secure and embed economic recovery in this country and ensure that the economic recovery is felt in every home and community. We need to be careful that people do not fall for - or are not tempted to fall for - the efforts by the Opposition to convince them to take that recovery for granted. We now have stability and a recovery that is unfinished but could not have been imagined even a few short years ago. That task has not been easy; it has not been easy for the Government or the people. It has not been easy because of the actions and inaction of the last Fianna Fáil Government, in which Deputy Martin played a key role. In many ways, we could be having a motion of no confidence in him today, except that that vote already took place in 2011, when the people of this country left him and his party in no doubt about their view of his record and legacy of destruction.

Deputy Martin and others made a political charge against the Taoiseach in this House and on every media platform they could find. The Taoiseach accepted the recommendation of an all-party committee and asked a retired Supreme Court judge to assess that political charge, and the judge has reported. Sadly for Deputy Martin, the findings are not convenient for the Opposition. He wanted to debate the issues in a vacuum and pretend there was no crisis in justice. I often wonder what he would have done if he were Taoiseach and somebody came to him late on a Sunday evening saying there were serious issues regarding security in the State. What would he do? Would he pop off to bed with a cup of cocoa and say that we would talk about it tomorrow?

No. I would bring it to the Minister for Justice and Equality.

This was a serious time of crisis.

I would meet the Minister for Justice and Equality.

The Deputy's faux outrage-----

I would also give the Garda Commissioner a call. That is what I would do.

Please do not shout me down. The Deputy's faux outrage is hard to take, but it is made all the more galling in the absence of genuine outrage at so many pivotal points during his tenure in ministerial office. Where was his outrage when he came to this House and voted confidence in Bertie Ahern when he could not produce a tax clearance certificate? Where was his outrage when the former Taoiseach could not explain where he got the money and he said he made it on the horses? Where was the Deputy's outrage when he had a Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance who did not have a bank account? Where was his outrage when his then ministerial colleague swore a false affidavit? Where was his yearning for answers when his Government set up meandering, expensive tribunals that did not get to answer burning, important questions for the taxpayers of this country for many years? More importantly, where was his concern for the 300,000 people who lost their jobs during the last 18 months of his tenure as a Minister? The Deputy's fixation on one man's job, which a Supreme Court judge has already examined, is in stark contrast to his inaction in saving the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people.

It is fair to say the Opposition has been taken aback, because before this Taoiseach it would not have seen such a quick and efficient examination of issues by an eminent judge, followed by publication of that report in full within 24 hours.

He is the first Taoiseach to refuse to answer questions on any report.

Facts are inconvenient at times for the Opposition, but one salient fact is worth remembering. There has only ever been one Garda Commissioner dismissed in this country whom the courts found was unfairly dismissed. That was a Garda Commissioner dismissed under a Fianna Fáil-led Government.

With regard to Sinn Féin, I apologise to Deputy Adams for not getting along to his little talk to the chamber of commerce today in Dublin. He left us with a lovely quote, and I look forward to debating these issues during the election. He was asked a question about figures. I will paraphrase but be quite accurate on this. He said, "I do not want to get into figures, because when I get the figures wrong they come back to haunt me." Well, Deputy Adams, at some point we are going to debate the figures and we are going to debate the economy.

Some of this will come back to haunt the Minister of State.

There is no doubt that there are many issues that need to be addressed, as my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has said about the justice system. That is already happening due to the reforming programme being pursued by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, which includes the setting up of an independent policing authority, reform of the Department in line with the Toland report, and a renewal of Garda recruitment - which Fianna Fáil stopped - along with investment through increased funding for Garda cars and numbers.

I know the Opposition does not want to debate the economy. Who can blame it? However, that is what the people want us to work on and that is what the people need us to focus on. It is not just for the sake of the economy, or having the economy as an end in itself; it is so we can deliver the society we want to deliver for all our people, one that our people need and deserve. Our economy is growing at the fastest rate in Europe, as is job creation. The troika has gone home and our sovereignty has been restored. Exports are up and reforms are under way in so many other areas. We will not be distracted or deterred by theatrics.

Tell that to David McWilliams.

Perhaps when this latest political set piece ends, we can get back to debating the real issues.

Is there any update on Moriarty? The Minister of State forgot to mention that.

I trust the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, has not been distracted by his own theatrics. I am impressed at the way in which all the best boys in the class are lined up to defend the honour of An Taoiseach.

The Deputy is good at that herself.

The Deputy is a good measure of that.

We are getting Jan in there.

The best girl will stand there presently. I wonder did they all bring apples to the Taoiseach this morning-----

The Deputy does a good job of that herself.

-----and leave them on his desk to curry favour.

Those opposite have voted confidence before.

The Minister, Deputy Noonan, in his somewhat monotone contribution earlier, seemed to be labouring under the misapprehension that the Fennelly report was merely a fig leaf, an excuse we had all waited for to table a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach. Far from needing to conjure any pretext to table a motion of no confidence, the objective conditions on the ground and the experiences of families right across the State leave us in no doubt about the very many fronts on which we could have moved a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach.

Today, at the top of the news, we were told that homelessness agencies have now declared the issue a humanitarian crisis. That is how severe and acute the chaos is within the areas of housing and homelessness in our society. The gentlemen and gentlewoman opposite have presided over that. Over the summer, and for some months before that, we still saw record numbers of people lying on hospital trolleys. That is the Government's chaos, record and form of governance. It has persisted, of course, with the madness that is Irish Water and domestic water charges. Those are only three examples, but I could go on.

I should say to the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, that we are more than happy to debate the figures. We will debate the figures with him any time. How about the number of families on the social housing waiting list? Would he like to discuss those? Would he like to discuss the number of households in mortgage arrears? Do the gentlemen opposite like those figures?

Those are coming down.

They are coming down, if the Deputy knows her figures.

I am very sorry to hear that it has not been easy for the Minister of State in government.

Or for the people.

I can hear the hearts of the nation breaking on his behalf because it has been so difficult for him. Boohoo. That pales into insignificance beside the hardship it has visited on people right across the country. The Government's rhetoric about recovery and its bombast rings very hollow, certainly in the constituency that I represent-----

Not if a person has a job.

-----because no recovery is evident there and the hardship that families are undergoing is real. The Government's half-hearted, mealy-mouthed nod in the direction of those families is, at this stage, insulting. If the Government were politically smart, it would stop doing that.

Now I come to the Fennelly report itself. For a person who has talked up Fennelly, the Taoiseach demonstrated a marked reluctance to come clean and give all the information to that commission. I have some sympathy for the position in which he has found himself. When the former Garda Commissioner attended the Committee of Public Accounts and said the whistleblowers Maurice McCabe and John Wilson were "disgusting" - that was the word he used - I gave him the opportunity to withdraw or qualify those remarks and he refused to do so. In my view, the moment that he chose to stand over that "disgusting" remark, the Commissioner's goose was cooked, if I could use that expression. It is my view that the Commissioner had to go. His credibility was shot and public confidence in him and, by extension, in the Garda at the time, was under incredible pressure. I think that Commissioner had to leave.

What Fennelly demonstrates very clearly is the truly remarkable turn of events where the Taoiseach chose to put a serving senior civil servant under the most incredible pressure to carry out an instruction that he believed to be wrong. That is the term he used: "wrong". The Taoiseach used that individual as a proxy, as a mechanism to do his dirty work. He put arms-length and deniable distance between himself and the resignation of the Commissioner. I believe he did that in a very deliberate and very calculated fashion. I think he was conscious of the provisions in law under the Garda Síochána Act 2005. He knew that what he should have done was to go to the Cabinet, state his case and allow the Cabinet to take a decision that I believe would have been inevitable in respect of the Garda Commissioner. However, because the Taoiseach was spooked, or maybe even because he was furious with the Commissioner for landing him in it again, he decided to do things his own way. He said at the beginning of his own contribution that he welcomed the fact that Fennelly expressed confidence in the Government and in the Attorney General. The Fennelly report does nothing of the sort. Yes, it falls short of saying that the Taoiseach said, man to man, Taoiseach to Commissioner, "You must go". He did not do that, but he unquestionably sent a person on his behalf to deliver that message. He had lost confidence in the Commissioner and the Commissioner had to go, which is precisely what happened.

Fennelly is absolutely damning in respect of the Attorney General. Fennelly says, in his own words, that he was left perplexed by the evidence given, and subsequently modified, by the Attorney General. The Attorney General, the senior law officer in the State, the legal adviser to Government, left Fennelly perplexed because of the nature of her testimony. He was perplexed by her inconsistencies and by the fact that she had to revise her testimony. He was equally perplexed at the fact that the Attorney General took it upon herself, unilaterally it seems, not to inform a serving Minister of matters of which she should have informed him. This House will know I do not hold a candle for the former Minister, Deputy Shatter; far from it. That is not the point. The point is that he was the duly appointed member of the Cabinet but the Attorney General sidestepped all of that. It is a matter of some concern to me that when we raise important issues like this, for a senior officeholder such as the Attorney General, the Government tries to bat them away and to depict them as nit-picking by the Opposition or the Opposition looking for a soft target. People properly expect that the Taoiseach operates not just within the letter of the law, in this case the Garda Síochána Act 2005, but also the spirit of that law, and we should expect that the Attorney General discharges her functions competently, fully, in accordance with established procedures and in recognition of the office she holds. Fennelly reflects that this was not the case. The Government's word of the season, which we have picked up on, is "chaos", which it attributes to those of us on this side of the Dáil. If ever there was irony, that is it. The chaos within the Department of Justice and Equality; the chaotic manner in which the Taoiseach convened that meeting in March - the one he had no notes on; the absolute chaos of applying onerous pressure on a civil servant to go, under cover of darkness, to deliver the Taoiseach's message to the Commissioner; the chaos of his Attorney General giving information to a commission, revisiting it, and deciding she would not communicate information to a senior Minister - that chaotic scenario is just a sample of the generalised chaos in which the Taoiseach operates. The really tragic thing - I will finish on this - and the reason we support a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach, is that the chaotic enterprise that is this Government has delivered not only chaos but also huge hardship for families the length and breadth of this State.

I stand to express my confidence in the work of the Taoiseach and in the work of the Government. As I offer that confidence, I am reminded of a number of occasions on which I sat over here, in various seats on these benches, and heard the Opposition make a number of claims. The first claim was that the Government would not put in place a process to investigate the very serious events we are debating this evening.

We never made that claim. We only asked for the questions to be answered in the Dáil.

The second claim was that if that was put in place, it would not report before a general election. Deputy Mícheál Martin stood up here on a number of occasions, demanding that this report be published before any approaching general election.

I actually demanded that we get questions answered in the Dáil by the Taoiseach and he refused. At Leaders' Questions he refused.

He stood up in the same spirit, asking if an interim report was made available, when it would be published. The cold reality of where we stand at the moment for Deputy Martin, is that he made claim after claim and laid down pretence after pretence regarding what would be in this report. He claimed the report would not be published. He claimed it would vindicate the claims he had been making about the Taoiseach and the Government. The report came into the Taoiseach's office on a Monday and it was published on a Tuesday.

He had it a month before that, in fact. For God's sake.

All the charges he made in respect of the Taoiseach have been proved unfounded by this report-----

Have they, all of them?

That is not true.

Have all of them?

Read the report.

What report did the Minister read?

It is so entertaining. I think this is the first time in at least four years that I have heard Fianna Fáil come in here and talk approvingly about RTE opinion polls. While I always look forward to and respect the view of the people and the decision of the people, which they will make clear at a ballot box at some point in the future, I would rather see my justice and the search for truth administered by a retired Supreme Court justice than overseen by an opinion poll, as the Deputy appeared to suggest earlier.

That was not suggested at all.

I listened with great interest to what Deputy Niall Collins had to say earlier. He walked in here and treated us to some kind of stream of consciousness where he went through all the different motions of confidence that he could put down about the Government.

Motions of no confidence.

He talked about all the different things that had unfolded regarding the economy and said that he could put down a motion on any of these, but the reality is that he did not.

We have, later on.

The reason Deputy Niall Collins did not do this is-----

We have, later on.

-----that on every one of the claims he made about the economy, two developments are apparent to most, although I acknowledge that so much more needs to be done.

We did it in the health area and they got rid of the then Minister, Deputy Reilly. We did it in the justice area and they got rid of the former Minister, Deputy Shatter.

What is first apparent to most is that the very kind of recovery Fianna Fáil claimed was impossible and would never happen is now under way in our country.

When did we say that?

The second point that is apparent to most is that-----

No. When did we say that?

-----while much is still wrong, there are so many challenges that need to be fixed and there are so many social ills that we need to remedy, what we now have is an economy that is at least capable of doing that. What we now have is an economy that is delivering growth and creating jobs. Tens of thousands of jobs have been created, with over 125,000 jobs having been created since our strategy to create employment was put in place. This compares with the wreck of an economy this Government faced when we came into office due to the decisions made by Fianna Fáil.

I listened with interest to what my constituency colleague had to say when she praised Members on this bench for their loyalty. I can tell Deputy McDonald that we could take lessons from her in her coming in here and expressing undying loyalty to her leader.

I stated that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was the best boy in the class. Was I being nasty? He should take the compliment.

We could take lessons from her on the number of times she has come in here and sat beside her leader, and stood up and defended him. I respect her right to do so, but she has done so in an undying fashion and in a manner that did not recognise the reality that was apparent to the rest of the country and to this Dáil.

We all accept that there are many challenges that have to be faced. We in this Government do so, and I certainly do so as somebody who deals with the challenges that families in my community face on a daily basis.

I thank the Minister.

The Government has created the ability of the country to respond to the challenges that still exist while overcoming, due to the consent and support of the people, the very challenges which Fianna Fáil created, the very wreck of the economy that this Government had to deal with when we came into office and the other challenges which all members of the Opposition said could never be overcome. That is the track record over which I stand and I express confidence in the Taoiseach, the Government and the work of the Attorney General.

Listening to the debate this afternoon I am reminded of Tom Kettle's reflections on politics:

... there will be always joy and loyalty enough left to keep you unwavering in the faith that politics is not as it seems in clouded moments, a mere gabble and squabble of selfish interests, but that it is the State in action. And the State is the name by which we call the great human conspiracy against hunger and cold, against loneliness and ignorance; the State is the foster-mother and warden of the arts, of love, of comradeship, of all that redeems from despair that strange adventure which we call human life.

The beginning of this Oireachtas term was an opportune moment for the Opposition to kick-start an informed and, indeed, critical debate on this Government's record - its achievements, of which there are many, and also the areas where we have failed to reach the mark. Moreover, it would have been even more beneficial for citizens interested in this debate - I wonder what those listening to this debate think are our priorities in here - for all parties in the House to honestly and credibly set forward their vision for Ireland.

Unfortunately, the parties opposite chose a different tack. They have, in Kettle's words, revealed themselves "as mere gabble and squabble of selfish interests". This is epitomised by the tawdry attempt of those on the Opposition benches to cast aspersions on the role of the Attorney General, a departure that ignores the facts available to us and flies in the face of the content of the commission's report.

I am proud to place on the record of this House my full confidence in the Taoiseach and my admiration and faith in the professionalism, judgment and dedication of the Attorney General. Any fair reading of the commission's report would endorse the Attorney General's actions. At all times she acted as the impartial and objective legal counsel to the Government, not a part of the Government nor a party in government, but to the Government as a whole, led by the Taoiseach. This is in keeping with the remarkable commitment to public service that the Attorney General has displayed since her appointment. The attempts by some Members opposite to besmirch that hard-earned reputation through a malign mixture of innuendo, supposition and what-iffery is pathetic.

As I mentioned earlier, this was the opportunity to have a frank and honest debate about this Government's record and, more importantly, about how we build a thriving, compassionate, nurturing society in the coming years. Instead, the Opposition turned its back on that debate, which is telling in itself.

A debate about future policy direction is particularly valuable in the vital area of education. Last year was the first year in recent times that we secured an increase in the education budget. It was a modest increase, but I am determined to see this as the beginning of increased investment in the important area of education.

In addition to the extra resources that the budgetary increase provided, I have, with the assistance of colleagues, in particular, my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, secured additional support during the year for children with special educational needs. I have ensured that every child with Down's syndrome will have an equal right to resource teacher support. As many in this House will be aware, we had a situation whereby parents of children with Down's syndrome whose condition was diagnosed as "mild" were not guaranteed access to resource teachers, and I am glad to say that is no longer the case. Also, in July, I received sanction and Government support to recruit up to 620 additional SNA posts starting this month. This represents an 11.7% increase since the Government came into office, yet I still hear Members opposite clamour about the cut back in SNA positions, which is a complete distortion of the truth. They may have loud voices but at times they are not very good at sums.

This is a missed opportunity to have a debate about values, competence and the future of the country, and we need to have that honest debate. I do not pretend to have all the answers and I would have welcomed the opinions of those on the Opposition benches, as would my colleagues. Unfortunately, others gained the whip hand in the lead in to this debate but, then again, perhaps that is what they want - all bluster and no substance.

I understand Deputy Donnelly is sharing with Deputies Thomas Pringle, Finian McGrath, Shane Ross and Paul Murphy.

That is correct.

Did the Taoiseach put pressure on the former Garda Commissioner to resign? He claims he did not and that the Fennelly report vindicates him, but it does nothing of the sort. The Fennelly report states: "The Taoiseach has assured the Commission in evidence that he had no intention of putting any kind of pressure, direct or indirect on the Commissioner and that he was genuinely very surprised when he learned that the Commissioner had decided to retire." The report goes on to list the evidence that makes these claims impossible to accept. It states: "Mr Purcell was... instructed to tell the Commissioner that... the Taoiseach would be proposing the appointment of a Commission of Investigation and that there was a possibility that he, the Taoiseach, would be in a position where he might not be able to express continued confidence in the Commissioner." No pressure.

The report states that Deputy Shatter, in his written statement to the commission, said that the Taoiseach was clearly of the view that the Garda Commissioner should resign or retire. Again, no pressure. Deputy Shatter is quoted as viewing the nocturnal visit has having "the intent of a message going to the Commissioner that indicated very clearly to him that his position was in great difficulty or that he should consider his position". No pressure. The report states that the Taoiseach and the Attorney General gave evidence on the issue of no confidence and that it was not one of the concerns to be conveyed to Mr. Purcell, but Mr. Purcell, Mr. Fraser and Deputy Shatter, on the other hand, "were in no doubt that it was part of the message to be conveyed to the Garda Commissioner". Again, no pressure. The report states: "It was decided at the meeting that, for reasons that are not clear to the Commission, simply telephoning the Garda Commissioner was not sufficient but that the message should be conveyed by Mr Purcell in person." No pressure.

The report states:

Mr Purcell was thus instructed by the Taoiseach to visit the Garda Commissioner. He was to visit his home, something which neither he nor, so far as he was aware, any of his predecessors had ever done before.

No pressure.

Based on the evidence, clearly, the Fennelly report shows evidence that it is impossible to conclude that the Taoiseach had no intention of putting pressure on the Garda Commissioner, and 88% of the people do not believe it to be the case. For this reason, the motion of confidence should be voted against.

The motion is about the Fennelly report. The Minister for Education and Skills has just said the debate should be about values and competence. The debate certainly is about values and competence. It is about the Taoiseach's values and how he dealt with the Garda Commissioner when the information came to light, and about how he did not use the proper channels to convey his message to the Garda Commissioner. He sent a late night visit to the Commissioner from the Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and to quote a famous film, he "made him an offer he couldn't refuse". He was left with no choice as to what he had to do. While the Taoiseach might not have said, "I want you to resign", he certainly left the Commissioner knowing what he had to do, and that is what the Commissioner did.

In his earlier contribution, the Taoiseach said had he seen the letter that was in the Department of Justice and Equality for a number of weeks before the information came to light, things would have been different. However, are we seriously to believe that the Secretary General whom he sent to deliver the message to the Commissioner had not seen the letter and did not know about it? Did he not mention it to the Taoiseach at any stage during the debacle? It stretches credulity to believe it would have happened. The Taoiseach delivered a message that he wanted the Commissioner to resign, and the Commissioner took the message on board, although it was not laid out in black and white for him.

There are many reasons to have a motion of no confidence in the Government, and they have been highlighted over recent years. The Taoiseach went to Switzerland and told our European masters we had all "partied", while here in the House he said we were not responsible for the crisis. The Taoiseach said he had not increased taxes during the lifetime of the Government when, clearly, everybody here knows he did. Last week, we had the spectacle of the Tánaiste opening a food bank in the city, which shows the culture and competence of the Government, given that opening a food bank in our capital city could be seen as progress.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this very important debate on the interim report of the Fennelly commission and the issue of confidence in the Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government. I do not have confidence in the Government and the result of the Fennelly commission of investigation is just one big reason, among many others such as trust, integrity and the performance of the Government, for the lack of confidence. The people have lost confidence, and during recent weeks most people are fed up with the Government's carry on. The motion is about trust and confidence, and people believe the Taoiseach played a major role in the sacking of the Garda Commissioner. Most people I know do not believe the Taoiseach and have major concerns about the credibility of the Taoiseach and the Government. That is the bottom line, and when one digs deeper into the interim report, particularly on page 212, on the issue of Mr. Purcell's visit to the Commissioner's home, we see, for example, "Mr Purcell agreed with the conclusion that, although it was certainly not something he wanted to do [it was] the least worst option". He was also "extremely uncomfortable" about finding himself in this position. The bottom line on the debate is that the people have lost confidence in the Government and the issue of lack of respect for the justice system, and I will vote accordingly.

The whole sorry episode began at the Committee of Public Accounts when the then Commissioner described two whistleblowers as "disgusting". He went on to talk about "my force" and to be arrogant in a way which was symptomatic of a man who felt he was embedded in power and irremovable. What was wrong with the episode was that the Commissioner, Martin Callinan, should have been sacked the next morning. After he had said what he said in a public forum, undermining the work of good gardaí who had been judged in a Garda kangaroo court guilty of something of which they were not guilty, the Government should have immediately sacked the Commissioner on that day. Instead, it spent months defending him, going into political contortions to do so. At the end, the episode occurred, which we are discussing today, the subject of the vote of confidence.

The Government decided that because he was politically disposable and too hot to carry politically, he would then be fired. The Government fired him in a way which was obviously unacceptable. It was against every protocol known and, possibly, against the law, given that he was fired without the consent of the Cabinet, and behind closed doors. It was typical of what happens in the Government, given that the same happened to the former Minister for Justice and Equality, who made mistake after mistake but was fired only when he became too hot to carry politically. It is part of a pattern of the Government continually using and abusing the system to gain political kudos and capital for itself and disposing of people at the wrong time, possibly unconstitutionally, when they become politically disposable.

Minutes after the publication of the Fennelly report, we were treated to a master class in spin by the Government and, again, by Government party Deputies today. The report has been presented as a whitewashing of the Taoiseach while, in reality, the details of the report are anything but that. It is a very good reason not to have confidence in our Taoiseach, Government and, incidentally, the Attorney General. There are many other very good reasons not to have confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government. Like Deputy Pringle, I was struck, as were many, by the image of the Tánaiste, Deputy Burton, happily cutting the ribbon on a food bank as a symbol of the recovery that is supposedly under way. It symbolised precisely what is happening, what was exposed so well in last night's documentary on RTE, namely, the nature of the recovery.

The Government is presiding over a recovery for the rich, the corporations and the high earners at the expense of the rest, and over a situation in which almost one in three people and almost one in two children is suffering from multiple deprivation experiences. Those statistics have doubled since the start of the crisis and have significantly increased since the Government took office, while the wealth of the super-wealthy has gone from €50 billion to €84 billion and Denis O'Brien's personal wealth has more than doubled. It sums up the reality of the Government's actions and the slogan and rhetoric of recovery on which it will stand for election and seek re-election and a vote of confidence from the public. That is who the Government stands for and represents and it will not get the votes of confidence of the public when it comes to an election in the coming months.

We are here debating the motion because the Opposition has decided the best use of Dáil time after the summer break is, once again, to assert a false claim which has been rejected by a former Supreme Court judge. Rather than focusing on the issues that affect people every day of their lives, such as job creation, housing or improving our health services, the Opposition would prefer that we spend today discussing a claim which does not stand up. Time and again, the Opposition made the false assertion that the Taoiseach effectively sacked the Garda Commissioner. Despite these claims, the Fennelly inquiry clearly finds that the former Commissioner took his own decision to retire. I have full confidence in the Taoiseach in how he handled the lead-up to the retirement of the former Commissioner, much like I have full confidence in the Taoiseach in his handling of the economy over the past four and a half years.

Under the Taoiseach's leadership, this country has been brought back from the brink. Back in 2011, we had lost our economic sovereignty, our international reputation was in tatters, unemployment was out of control and we had no money to invest in public services. I will give two apt examples of what is happening now. We are recruiting new gardaí and we are investing in the Garda fleet. As Deputies might remember, Fianna Fáil halted Garda recruitment in 2009 because it had destroyed the economy and had no money to take on new recruits. Between 2012 and 2014, this Government spent more than €400 million on the Garda budget than Fianna Fáil had proposed for the same period.

Such investment would not have been possible if this Government, with the support of the people, had not taken painful steps to repair the economy and get this country back on a sustainable footing. By continuing to create jobs, we are sustaining the recovery. As more people are at work, we have more money to invest in public services like the Garda Síochána. We would not be in a position to invest in such services in the absence of the calm and considered leadership of the Taoiseach and his focus on improving the lives of people in this country. He has led this country through one of the most difficult times in its history. He has shown conviction in the face of adversity and courage in the face of difficult decisions. As a nation, we are now seeing the benefits of that. Some 120,000 jobs have been created. Ireland has the fastest growing economy in Europe. The unemployment rate has decreased from 15% to 9.5% and is continuing to fall.

Step by step, under the leadership of the Taoiseach, the Government has repaired the old broken Fianna Fáil model and replaced it with a sustainable economy based on enterprise and innovation. The more we move away from the failed policies of the past, the more we can deliver prosperity for the people. Just one question that needs to be asked in the context of this confidence motion. Is this country a better place now than it was when Deputy Enda Kenny became Taoiseach? The only answer anyone can give to that question is "Yes". I have full confidence in him as Taoiseach and as leader of Fine Gael. I will be giving my full support to this motion.

It is difficult to understand why this motion is before the House.

It is a Government motion.

There is some difficulty with that all right.

The facts speak for themselves. The Government established an independent commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the retirement of the Garda Commissioner. These circumstances were investigated for months by a retired Supreme Court judge. The commission has now considered all the evidence and concluded that the Garda Commissioner decided to retire and could have decided otherwise.

This motion is old-style cynical politics at its worst. Fianna Fáil is attacking the Taoiseach for the sake of attacking him. This cynical approach to politics has served this country poorly in the past. Where is responsible opposition? Where is Fianna Fáil's desire to put the country ahead of the party? Have its members learned nothing? After the painful recession from which we are now emerging, the public expects better from politicians. This is the type of behaviour that makes the public switch off from politics. It is the exact opposite of what we experienced last May, when people who had never even voted before knocked on doors in every constituency in the country to campaign for their rights and the rights of others. The decisive result that emerged at the end of that campaign provided a new optimism regarding what politics can achieve. Fianna Fáil may not have noticed this. It may have been oblivious to the new mood, given that it barely lifted a finger to participate in the process in question. It is now reverting to type by engaging in the type of politics that disillusions young people to the point where they do not even register to vote. Is it any wonder that the public has turned its back on Fianna Fáil? Is it any wonder that one of its brightest young leading lights has turned her back on the party?

The toxic culture of the Fianna Fáil Party devastated this country. Its reckless approach hurt every family in the country. No home was left untouched. As others have said, unemployment soared, taxes increased and the most vulnerable were walloped. The country was humiliated. Fianna Fáil walked off the pitch after wreaking havoc on the country. Many Ministers did not even bother to go to the polls. The small rump of leftovers has now tabled a motion of no confidence in the leader who cleaned up their mess. It is not surprising that Sinn Féin is voting with Fianna Fáil today. The members of that party are not comfortable when they have to deal with the facts. Rather then listening to the evidence and accepting an impartial judgment, they prefer their traditional approach of being judge, jury and undertaker. They would even like to remove our Attorney General. Having worked with her on complex legislation, I have seen at first hand her unrivalled professionalism and her commitment to her job.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are telling us that they have no confidence in the Taoiseach who has turned this country around. Under the Taoiseach's leadership, this country is coming back from the brink. We now have the fastest-growing economy in Europe. Some 1,300 jobs are being created every week. The unemployment rate has fallen from 15.1% to 9.5%. We knew that the man who rebuilt our party was the man to rebuild the country. The recovery was not just about rebuilding our economy; it was about rebuilding our pride, self-esteem and confidence. The recovery remains fragile in uncertain times, however. The Chinese stock markets are tumbling. The European economy has slowed to a crawl. Our largest trading partner is actively considering leaving the European Union. In these uncertain times, the man who brought this country back from the brink is the man to secure our fragile recovery and ensure its benefits are felt by every individual, by each family and by all households. I commend the motion to the House.

The leader of Fianna Fáil and many other Opposition Deputies constantly talk about Government spin. They do not realise that this Government deals in facts. I wish to deal with facts during this debate, in the first instance when speaking about the Fennelly report. The central charge made against the Taoiseach by the Opposition is that he sacked the Garda Commissioner. The conclusions of the Fennelly report show that this charge does not stand up. I will set out the facts of the report. Conclusion 14 in the report is that "there was no question at the meeting on 24th March of any proposal being made that the Government consider the removal of the Commissioner from office". Conclusion 15 in it is that "the Commission accepts that the Taoiseach did not intend to put pressure on the Garda Commissioner to retire". Conclusion 22 is that "the Commissioner decided to retire; he could have decided otherwise, but he did not wish to become embroiled in legal or other conflict with the Government". That is enough on the report. The facts are the facts and they speak for themselves.

In turning to the motion of confidence in the Government, it is important that we remember where we were back in early 2011. There were dark clouds hanging over this country. We were on the brink of bankruptcy. We were facing mass unemployment. The rate of unemployment was heading up to 20%. The nation was gripped by despair. There was no hope. When we went to the doors and met people on the streets, we could see fear in their eyes. They feared for their jobs and prospects, but they had a greater fear for the future of this country and the future of their children and grandchildren. They did not have hope. They were genuinely afraid. Four and a half years on, under the leadership of the Taoiseach, this Fine Gael-Labour Party Government has brought hope back to people. Confidence has been restored. When we meet people now on the streets and at the doors, they have hope and they see a future for themselves and for their children and grandchildren.

Members would be wrong to think I am saying everything is perfect out there. We are not delusional on the Government side. We know things still have to improve. Most people say they believe things are going to get better. If one talks to those who are involved in small and medium-sized enterprises, most of them will tell one they intend to increase the number of people they employ. There is hope and there is belief in the future. The restoration of confidence is the most important thing. This hope is backed up by the facts, as opposed to imagination and spin. It is a fact that unemployment was at 15% and was heading to 20%, but is now at 9.5%. It is a fact that we were losing thousands of jobs each week, but we are now winning 1,300 new and real jobs each week. It is a fact that the budgetary deficit, which was €22 billion in 2011, will be under €5 billion this year. The cost of Government borrowing was 15% but is now down to 1.63%. The economy has now recovered to the same size that it was before the crash. This time it is real instead of being based on a property bubble. These are facts rather than spin. We do not need to spin this recovery.

It is real, it is sustainable, and, most importantly, it is delivering jobs - real jobs. This is an enterprise-led recovery built on exports. It is a sustainable recovery that will give the Government the ability to pay for the improved services that the people of this country deserve. Our job now is to future-proof the economy by investing in skills, research and innovation and in our young people. This charge is being led by the Taoiseach, who has given clear example. He can show real leadership, which, I am sad to say, I have not seen anywhere on the Opposition benches for the last four and a half years. He has shown real leadership and has made real decisions in real time.

With the approval of the House, I would like to share my time with Deputy Billy Timmins.

The central question that arises in this debate is "Does it matter whether the Taoiseach tells the truth?". I think it matters quite a lot, and the public thinks it matters as well, in spite of the impression that is being created - or that the Government is trying to create - that nobody is really interested in this. I heard a reporter on RTE saying that the Fennelly report does not matter and that nobody is interested, but I do not think that is the case at all. The public is very exercised by this because it goes to the very heart of politics and whether one can believe a senior politician. For that reason, it is quite disappointing that Fennelly did not reach a clear conclusion on the central point of the inquiry, in spite of the fact that there was so much evidence from almost everybody else who was interviewed to support the contention that we are getting something less than the truth from the Taoiseach. That does matter to people.

The report paints a picture of quite staggering incompetence and panic on the part of the Taoiseach and a complete disregard for proper procedures. It also portrays quite serious dysfunction across a number of State offices, which should be a matter of concern to us all. The report is littered with contradictions, and any fair reading would lead one to conclude that the Taoiseach's claims of vindication simply do not stand up. In fact, the way the Taoiseach has portrayed this is reminiscent of Albert Reynolds in respect of the beef tribunal. The whole approach, in terms of honesty in politics, is very similar to what happened on that occasion.

We all know that the Taoiseach had a political problem. There had been relentless controversies emanating from the Garda and from the Department of Justice and Equality. It would appear that the Taoiseach used senior officials to help him to solve that political problem. Clearly, this was completely inappropriate and improper. There seemed to be a view that if the Garda Commissioner stepped down it would help to quell controversies. If that was what the Taoiseach wanted, he should have followed proper procedures and got Cabinet approval to remove the Commissioner. Instead, he sent a senior official to the Commissioner's home late at night to tell him that the Taoiseach could not express confidence in him. This, of course, meant one thing and one thing only, and that was that the Commissioner was sacked. If this was not the intention in sending Brian Purcell to the Commissioner's house that night, then what was the point of the visit? Many feel that the Taoiseach is treating the public like fools, but they are not fools. The public knows what the score is in this regard. Again, if the purpose of sending Mr. Purcell out that night was not to get the Commissioner to resign, then what on earth was the purpose of that visit? The report itself is quite clear in this regard. It says that the commission accepts the Taoiseach's assurances that he did not, by sending Mr. Purcell to visit the Commissioner, put pressure on the Commissioner to retire. However, it goes on to say: "Seen objectively however, Mr. Purcell's message ... on behalf of the Taoiseach ... late at night, was likely to be interpreted as doing just that." The other issue is that while the Taoiseach claims one thing, everybody else in the room that night understood exactly what was involved. Everybody in the room that night was absolutely clear that the Taoiseach was sending Mr. Purcell out to sack the Garda Commissioner. For the Taoiseach to deny this is simply not believable. Irrespective of how he has spun the release of the report, it is just not believable.

I want to speak now about the role of the Attorney General in all of this. Fennelly described her actions as perplexing and puzzling. Certainly, it is very hard to know why she had a crisis meeting with the Taoiseach about phone taping on 23 March when her office had been told about the phone taping the previous November. Indeed, her office was involved with the Garda Commissioner's office right throughout the month of February with regard to taping in respect of the Bailey case. Reports that she was called back on four occasions would indicate that there were very serious problems with the evidence being given by the Attorney General. There are very serious questions to be answered regarding the functioning of her office.

In respect of the Department of Justice and Equality, an important letter came from the Garda Commissioner addressed to the Minister, but this was not passed on. Was there an awareness of that letter? Was the Taoiseach told about that letter on the night? Did Mr. Purcell tell him about the dysfunction within his Department that resulted in such an important letter not reaching the Minister?

One must also ask about the level of awareness of the taping of calls going into and out of Garda stations. Everybody seems to be claiming they did not know this was happening - that it was news to them. The system for taping phone calls was put in during the 1980s in a number of Garda stations, so it was not a question of its being done secretly. Furthermore, the system was upgraded in the 1990s and some half a million euro was spent on further upgrading it in 2008. How was it that nobody in the Department of Justice and Equality or in the Attorney General's office seemed to know anything about this? This raises massive questions about dysfunction at the very heart of Government and the Civil Service. Of course, critical questions also arise with regard to the functioning of the Civil Service and the relationship between the Civil Service and senior Ministers. We have a situation at the moment whereby Secretaries General hide behind Ministers and Ministers hide behind the Secretaries General. Deputy Rabbitte has drawn attention to this on numerous occasions but, of course, nothing has been done to reform this area. What advice did Martin Fraser give the Taoiseach concerning his powers in this regard? Are we not entitled to see that advice?

All of this is very important. We have had eulogies from all of the Ministers today who spoke about the Leader of the Government and what he has done. The leader of the Government has doubled child poverty and is responsible for the fact that there are half a million people on hospital waiting lists. The Leader of the Government is responsible for the increase in the housing waiting lists to 130,000 and has overseen a massive transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle classes to the wealthy. The Leader of the Government used the budget last year to widen the gap between rich and poor. And, most importantly, the Leader of the Government cannot be believed or trusted. That is why we cannot vote confidence in him.

In many respects, this confidence motion is irrelevant. It is born out of an adversarial system that has ill served the public. The outcome is well known in advance, the debate predictable. The Opposition comes in and casts a jaundiced eye on the workings and failures of Government and Cabinet Ministers and others line up like King Lear's daughters, protesting their undying obedience and confidence in the Taoiseach and the Government.

This Government has done some good and some bad. However, with respect to the issue at hand, namely, the interim report of the Fennelly commission - the Government has not covered itself in glory. The Taoiseach has a view that he did not sack the Commissioner, a view I believe he genuinely holds. However, his actions, which resulted in the visit by the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to the Garda Commissioner's home, caused the Commissioner to resign. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs or how the Commissioner was performing in his role, a public servant does not deserve that treatment but deserves fair process, whether he or she is the highest ranking member of the Garda or the lowest.

This view is shared by the majority of people. This was a case of government by innuendo, which is not how things are meant to be. While both sides of the House can selectively quote from the interim report, members of the public will draw their own conclusions and will not come down on the side of the Government.

I would like the Minister for Justice and Equality to address a few minor issues arising from the interim report before the final report is published. I refer to the failure of the management team to inform the Garda Commissioner about the tapes and the shredding of ten bags of material, which I understand took place ten days after the Commissioner resigned. Under section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the Minister has the power to appoint a relevant person to carry out an investigation into such matters. It would be helpful if such an investigation were completed before the publication of the final report.

An attempt was made to manipulate the media in respect of the publication of the report. It should be a requirement in future that such reports be laid before the House at the same time as they are received by the Government.

This debate will be ignored by members of the public who have made up their minds and moved on. Is it not regrettable that we cannot approach this debate with open minds, rather than adopting partisan positions with predetermined outcomes?

The context of this first Fennelly report is the controversies that engulfed the Garda Síochána and about which several Members of the House spent months jumping up and down criticising the former Garda Commissioner. The same Members now cry a river of crocodile tears about the manner of the former Commissioner's retirement.

The interim report of the Fennelly commission is careful to state several times that, after 15 months, it ventures no opinion as to the legality of the Garda station recordings, although it is possible to infer from the report that the Attorney General was expected to reach a conclusion on legality over one weekend. While we await the second Fennelly report, the House appears agreed on the potentially grave implications for the administration of justice of the capture of telephone traffic in and out of Garda stations, a fact unknown to the then Minister for Justice and Equality or Garda Commissioner apparently. We are fortunate to have a law officer advising the Government who spelled out those grave implications. What a pity we did not have a similarly patriotic watchdog to advise the Government of Deputy Micheál Martin of the grave economic implications of the Fianna Fáil Party policies being pursued before the country went over the cliff.

Hear, hear.

Deputy Martin thinks the then Garda Commissioner, having announced his retirement, should have been allowed to stay in office for three months. Is this not what happened when Mr. Bertie Ahern stayed on as Taoiseach for months after announcing his departure while the country went down the tubes? I do not recall Fianna Fáil observing any courtesies when the then Minister, Mr. Gerry Collins, sacked the then Garda Commissioner who subsequently won compensation in the courts. Moreover, Deputy Martin has never been able to find the file last seen on his desk, according to the Travers report, when his inaction cost the Exchequer €110 million.

I await with interest information on who authorised the recordings in Garda stations - if they were authorised. In the interim, I have confidence in the Taoiseach, Attorney General and Government and nothing Deputy Martin, the ghost of bailouts past, had to say today changes my opinion.

I listened to the contribution of Deputy Niall Collins who, on every occasion available to him in this House, tries to blacken the good names of public representatives and make allegations about Members. Given that he presents himself as an alternative Minister for Justice and Equality, I propose to point out one or two things to him. Last year, the Deputy wrote to a judge asking that a convicted drug dealer be allowed to go free. Just two weeks ago, he called on the Taoiseach to publish all details, including transcripts, of his evidence to the Fennelly commission. He should know that to do so would be illegal as the Commissions of Investigation Act, which was introduced by the Fianna Fáil Party in government in 2004, specifically prohibits anybody from publishing any evidence given or the contents of any documentation produced by a witness. This prohibition is set out in black and white in section 11(3) of the Act, which also provides, in section 11(5), that a person who publishes such evidence is guilty of an offence. How can anyone treat Deputy Niall Collins seriously when he is not familiar with the legislation his party introduced?

The Taoiseach has been one of the best, most honourable and most decent Taoisigh to have sat in this House. There have been no scandals or whiff of scandal associated with him.

This is a scandal.

The cheek of you to even open your mouth.

Please speak through the Chair.

When you were a member of Government all you could do every time there was a scandal was ask for another report. You stood over Bertie Ahern, Pádraig Flynn and every scandal that was raised in this House and pretended nothing was going on. People do not treat you seriously, which is the reason they do not have any confidence in you or the Fianna Fáil Party, as you will find out in a few months when we go before the electorate. People know what you stand for and what the Taoiseach and Government stand for.

I heard speakers discuss the problems the country has. You remember this, Micheál Martin-----

Deputies must speak through the Chair.

-----the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising falls in 2016. The troika came into this country when it was under the care of Deputy Martin's party. We fought for independence and a Republic, yet Deputy Martin's party handed our independence over to the troika. We will take every opportunity we get to tell people in every corner of the country what the Deputy's party did in destroying this country not once or twice but three times. Fianna Fáil will not be forgiven for what it did. People are sleeping rough because of the policies of a party that condemns the Government at every opportunity for doing what is right.

The Taoiseach is a good and honourable man who has led the country out of the worst recession since the foundation of the State and people will remember that when they go to the polls.

How does one follow that?

I would not advise the Deputy to try.

I express my full support and total confidence in the Taoiseach on the issue of the Fennelly commission report and his actions during the period in question. While the report clearly outlines the various breakdowns in communications and so on, the bottom line is that it makes clear that neither the Taoiseach nor anyone else sacked the Garda Commissioner and that the Commissioner had other options available to him.

I was present during Leaders' Questions on numerous occasions during that period and I remember Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Independent Deputies jumping up and down looking for a commission of inquiry to examine the relevant events. They got an inquiry but are not happy with its findings. In other words, it produced the wrong answer. I ask them to take a leaf out of the book of the Kerry football team which, after being beaten fairly and squarely by Dublin in the all-Ireland final, accepted the result and moved on.

I have known the Taoiseach for the past 40 years. During that time, I have had many dealings with him, including a few rows. I will say, however, that he is a man of the highest integrity and honesty and a person who does what he says he will do. It is as simple as that and history will judge his legacy accordingly.

I, too, express every confidence in the Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government. It strikes me that one always hears Deputies speak about political reform. While it may be possible to change rules, improve accountability or have things run more smoothly, it is not possible to account fully for human nature. This motion is an example of Deputies playing silly buggers. It wastes time that could be spent discussing ongoing issues that need to be addressed. Fianna Fáil Deputies in particular cannot speak about economic success and recovery given that the Taoiseach has taken us back from the precipice to which their party led us.

We were about to fall over but he has put the country on the road to recovery with the support of Government and all on the backbench. What we should be debating is the fallout of Fianna Fáil in government and how we are trying to fix legacy issues, whether it is housing or the many other issues we face as a consequence of the bad management, to say the very least, of Fianna Fáil.

I pay tribute to the Attorney General. Fair play to this Government for appointing her as the first woman to that office. We have an outstanding Attorney General in Máire Whelan. I spent at least four hours with her alongside another colleague, debating and exploring my concerns about the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill. Not only is she extremely competent, she is deeply motivated to serve in her office for the common good. This Attorney General has overseen probably the greatest amount of reforming legislation in the history of the State. She has a deep commitment to the public interest. In relation to the 30-year Garda recording controversy, the Attorney General demonstrated this deep commitment by her action to ensure that the rights of citizens were not adversely prejudiced by the potential destruction of recordings that could possibly contain exculpatory evidence. Those on the Opposition benches are doing their best to put her down and rubbish her. The way the old boys standing together on the Opposition benches are attempting to gang up on her smacks more than a little of male chauvinism.

Listening to the previous speakers, one would think this was all very clear-cut. Unfortunately, it is not clear-cut and I find it remarkable that many of the Government speakers feel we should not be discussing the interim Fennelly report at all. If we had three hours' debate it would be a disgrace, but we have had nothing like three hours because most people have not even spoken about the Fennelly report because they have not read it. That is very evident from the speeches that have been made.

There is a certain irony that some of those on the Government benches who are being wheeled out today to defend the Taoiseach were themselves only five years ago pushing ahead with their own motion of no confidence in Deputy Enda Kenny. Five years is almost a lifetime in politics. Back then, those individuals voted to remove Deputy Enda Kenny from his post having no confidence in his ability even to lead the Opposition. Their judgment of his abilities then was better than their judgment of the Fennelly report today. Today, they will loyally defend the leader they once sought to depose but the tale of utter mismanagement set out in the Fennelly report has proven them right.

The Taoiseach's defence to the charge that he sacked the Garda Commissioner has been a weak one. It seems that he relies on the pedantic defence that he did not sack the Commissioner but merely forced him to leave office - a wafer-thin distinction that the public can see through immediately. Only the Taoiseach knows what he was thinking when he sent the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality on the nasty mission of forcing the Garda Commissioner to resign. While the Fennelly commission refrained from concluding against the Taoiseach on the key issue of intent, how could it do otherwise when the Fennelly commission could not get into the Taoiseach's mind? On that very narrow point, the Taoiseach has built his entire defence. Mr. Purcell was an experienced civil servant, however, and he knew the import of what he was being asked to do. Indeed, even the Taoiseach was forced to concede to the commission that he could not dispute the fact that the Commissioner would be compelled to resign if the Taoiseach stated publicly that he did not have confidence in him.

No one who actually read the report could credibly state that the Taoiseach was exonerated by it. Repeating the mantra that the Taoiseach was exonerated a thousand times does not make it true. The fact is that the Taoiseach's evidence was rejected by the commission on a number of points. The Taoiseach's evidence was that Mr. Purcell's brief was to apprise the Commissioner of concerns and ascertain the Commissioner's views on that. Indeed, the commission notes that it was his evidence on several occasions that he wanted to have the view of the Commissioner. The commission rejected the Taoiseach's evidence on this point, finding explicitly that the Taoiseach in fact did not instruct Mr. Purcell to obtain the views of the Commissioner on any question. The commission noted that the Taoiseach was forced to concede in evidence that the Commissioner would be compelled to resign if the Taoiseach stated publicly that he did not have confidence in him. The commission also found that Mr. Purcell was instructed to tell the Commissioner that that was exactly what was on the cards; that the Taoiseach would be in a position where he might not be able to express confidence in the Commissioner. To any ordinary person it is very clear what the import of that was. While one would not think it to listen to Government Members today, we must remember that the fundamental finding of the commission was against the Taoiseach. It was that the immediate catalyst for his decision to retire was the visit of Mr. Purcell to the Commissioner's home and the message he conveyed from the Taoiseach during that visit. The simple reality is that the Taoiseach ignored the legal process that was in place for the removal of a Garda Commissioner. That process is a key protection in the national interest of any democracy. Equally, he ignored the requirements of fair procedures and constitutional justice provided for in the Garvey judgment.

The Taoiseach has offered a weak defence to these charges and it is a weak defence the public has already made its judgment on. No defence weak or otherwise, however, can be offered by the Taoiseach to the charges that he completely mismanaged this crisis. Not only did the Taoiseach show a complete lack of leadership, he shut down essential communication with the Garda Commissioner and the relevant Minister and kept himself deliberately in a position of wilful ignorance of key facts. In its own polite and professional tone, the commission is also scathing of the "serious information deficits and multiple failures of communication" over which the Taoiseach presided. The crisis being dealt with was a considerable one. Even now, we do not know if the final report of the Fennelly commission will conclude whether the systematic recording of Garda station calls was legal. The Attorney General stated that there had been "wholesale violation of the law by An Garda Siochana", describing this as "criminal activity". In her own words, speaking to the Fennelly commission, this was "a most grievous matter".

Thank you, Deputy.

I have ten minutes.

I am afraid the time-----

The clock is not working.

The time is actually up because there are only five minutes left for the Government.

The clock seems to work for the Government side, but not the Opposition.

I will conclude.

The Taoiseach was ten minutes late. Could the Leas-Cheann Comhairle not allow that ten minutes?

Take it off their time.

Is the Leas-Cheann Comhairle asking me to conclude?

I ask the Deputy to conclude. He has actually had about six minutes.

The mismanagement by the Taoiseach of this crisis, his deliberate keeping of the Minister in the dark, insistence on keeping himself in a position of wilful ignorance, refusal to seek out key facts, and refusal to abide by his constitutional obligation to afford the Garda Commissioner fair procedures and natural justice all combine to create a situation where all of us should agree that the House cannot have confidence in him as Taoiseach. I note that the Taoiseach did not offer any apology to the former Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan. At minimum, the Taoiseach made the decision to send Mr. Purcell out to Mr. Callinan's home late at night when the Taoiseach did not have the full facts at his disposal. As such, the Taoiseach owes that man an apology. Perhaps some of the Taoiseach's own party front bench should visit him in his home late at night and inform him that, if asked the following day, the vast majority of his parliamentary party would not express confidence in him. Maybe then, the Taoiseach would understand the very hollow distinction between being sacked and merely becoming resigned.

I rise to support the motion of confidence in the Government, Taoiseach and Attorney General and oppose the Opposition motions. We have had the Fennelly commission and people, of course, are entitled to their own opinions about the circumstances that gave rise to the Commissioner's retirement. However, there are some things that no one can dispute. We had a commission of inquiry established in law and chaired by Mr. Justice Nial Fennelly, a respected retired Supreme Court judge. He is the only person who interviewed all of the key people involved and reviewed all of the evidence that was available. His conclusions were clear that the central claim made by the Opposition against the Taoiseach was not true. Despite these findings, we are having a debate today for some reason on a motion of confidence. I remember when Deputy Micheál Martin first became leader of his party, one of his preferred catch phrases was to say "That's old politics". To me, this is classic old politics; getting personal rather than focusing on the issues; scoring points, slinging mud in the hope that some of it sticks; and trying to get one over on the opposing party. It is old politics. There is a new leader, but it is very definitely the same old Fianna Fáil.

In assessing whether the House and the country have confidence in the Taoiseach, the Attorney General and the Government, we need to remember where we were before Deputy Enda Kenny was elected as Taoiseach to lead the country. Four years ago, the economy was in free fall. Europe and the IMF were calling all of the shots. Unemployment was soaring, forced emigration had returned and home values and incomes were plummeting. Today, we are the fastest growing economy in Europe, perhaps growing even faster than China. Some 120,000 jobs have been created in the past three years. Unemployment has decreased from 15% to 9.5%, we are turning the tide on emigration, incomes, home values and living standards are starting to recover and the national debt is decreasing again. Surely any reasoned or fair analysis would have to give the Taoiseach and the Government some credit for the leadership that brought about this turnaround, but the Members opposite cannot bring themselves to do so. Rather, they would try to bring someone down, just as they would like to bring the country down again by returning to the politics and economics of the past.

I wish to state my confidence in the Attorney General. Here we enter into important constitutional territory. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of motions of no confidence in a Taoiseach, we can all at least understand that they are a regular part of the Punch and Judy political process with its own history and traditions. However, there is something deeply disturbing about the way one party has attempted to drag the Attorney General into this dispute. In doing so, it is playing politics with the Constitution itself. The position of the Attorney General is governed by Article 30 of the Constitution, which provides that the Attorney General shall not be a member of the Government. Mr. Justice Kingsmill Moore, in McLoughlin v. Minister for Social Welfare, stated in the Supreme Court that the Attorney General "is specifically excluded from being a member of the Government, which again underlines his special position", in this case her position. The role of the Attorney General could be considered as "the adviser of the Government in matters of law and legal opinion", as prescribed by Article 31, and as guardian of the public interest. The Attorney General is also the key institutional link between the Executive and the Judiciary. What this means, and what the Opposition has chosen to ignore, is that, given the nature of the role of the Attorney General, he or she ought not to be dragged into political controversy or made subject to gratuitous attack. This does not mean that an Attorney General cannot be held to account,-----

-----but it does mean that he or she should not be subjected to the same kind of political attacks as politicians are, namely, votes of no confidence in Chambers where he or she does not sit and cannot even respond or defend himself or herself.

The Opposition has not just made a mistake in trying to drag the Attorney General into this artificial contest to attack the Government. It has also exposed a dangerous lack of understanding about the Constitution and how it is protected. Fianna Fáil used to boast that it was a "slightly constitutional" party. Sinn Féin has been so desperate to steal its clothes and, indeed, votes, that it seems to have stolen this as well, except that Sinn Féin is more accurately a slightly unconstitutional party. For too many years, it tried to subvert the Constitution. Now, it damages by accident where once it tried to do so by design.

This motion is a tired distraction from a bored and frustrated Opposition, one with no vision or programme and possessed only of carping negativity. Its only desire is to court popularity by being all things to all people, offering to get rid of taxes and spend more on every worthy project but with no plan on how to fund that. As the one-time ally - Syriza in Greece - of some on the Opposition benches has found out, government requires that one take realistic positions and decisions.

We in the Government have full confidence in the Taoiseach and the Attorney General. We stand over the inquiry that has vindicated them. We vote to set aside this distraction from the business of government and from the concerns of people. We reject the distorted claims of the Opposition, we reject a motion that was born out of ignorance, and we have answered it with the facts.

A division has been challenged. As this is a motion of confidence in the Government, in accordance with Standing Order 71(1), the division will proceed through the lobbies.

Question put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 94; Níl, 52.

  • Bannon, James.
  • Barry, Tom.
  • Breen, Pat.
  • Bruton, Richard.
  • Burton, Joan.
  • Butler, Ray.
  • Buttimer, Jerry.
  • Byrne, Catherine.
  • Byrne, Eric.
  • Cannon, Ciarán.
  • Carey, Joe.
  • Coffey, Paudie.
  • Collins, Áine.
  • Conaghan, Michael.
  • Conlan, Seán.
  • Connaughton, Paul J.
  • Conway, Ciara.
  • Coonan, Noel.
  • Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
  • Costello, Joe.
  • Coveney, Simon.
  • Creed, Michael.
  • Daly, Jim.
  • Deasy, John.
  • Deenihan, Jimmy.
  • Deering, Pat.
  • Doherty, Regina.
  • Donohoe, Paschal.
  • Dowds, Robert.
  • Doyle, Andrew.
  • Durkan, Bernard J.
  • English, Damien.
  • Farrell, Alan.
  • Feighan, Frank.
  • Ferris, Anne.
  • Fitzpatrick, Peter.
  • Flanagan, Charles.
  • Griffin, Brendan.
  • Hannigan, Dominic.
  • Harrington, Noel.
  • Harris, Simon.
  • Hayes, Tom.
  • Heydon, Martin.
  • Howlin, Brendan.
  • Humphreys, Heather.
  • Humphreys, Kevin.
  • Keating, Derek.
  • Kehoe, Paul.
  • Kelly, Alan.
  • Kenny, Enda.
  • Kenny, Seán.
  • Kyne, Seán.
  • Lawlor, Anthony.
  • Lyons, John.
  • McCarthy, Michael.
  • McEntee, Helen.
  • McFadden, Gabrielle.
  • McGinley, Dinny.
  • McHugh, Joe.
  • McLoughlin, Tony.
  • McNamara, Michael.
  • Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
  • Mitchell, Olivia.
  • Mulherin, Michelle.
  • Murphy, Dara.
  • Murphy, Eoghan.
  • Nash, Gerald.
  • Neville, Dan.
  • Nolan, Derek.
  • Noonan, Michael.
  • Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
  • O'Donnell, Kieran.
  • O'Donovan, Patrick.
  • O'Dowd, Fergus.
  • O'Mahony, John.
  • O'Reilly, Joe.
  • O'Sullivan, Jan.
  • Penrose, Willie.
  • Perry, John.
  • Phelan, Ann.
  • Phelan, John Paul.
  • Quinn, Ruairí.
  • Rabbitte, Pat.
  • Reilly, James.
  • Ring, Michael.
  • Ryan, Brendan.
  • Sherlock, Sean.
  • Spring, Arthur.
  • Stagg, Emmet.
  • Stanton, David.
  • Tuffy, Joanna.
  • Twomey, Liam.
  • Varadkar, Leo.
  • Wall, Jack.

Níl

  • Adams, Gerry.
  • Aylward, Bobby.
  • Broughan, Thomas P.
  • Browne, John.
  • Calleary, Dara.
  • Collins, Niall.
  • Colreavy, Michael.
  • Coppinger, Ruth.
  • Cowen, Barry.
  • Daly, Clare.
  • Doherty, Pearse.
  • Donnelly, Stephen S.
  • Dooley, Timmy.
  • Ellis, Dessie.
  • Fitzmaurice, Michael.
  • Fleming, Sean.
  • Fleming, Tom.
  • Grealish, Noel.
  • Halligan, John.
  • Healy-Rae, Michael.
  • Higgins, Joe.
  • Kelleher, Billy.
  • Kirk, Seamus.
  • Kitt, Michael P.
  • Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
  • McConalogue, Charlie.
  • McDonald, Mary Lou.
  • McGrath, Finian.
  • McGrath, Mattie.
  • McGrath, Michael.
  • McGuinness, John.
  • McLellan, Sandra.
  • Martin, Micheál.
  • Mathews, Peter.
  • Moynihan, Michael.
  • Murphy, Catherine.
  • Murphy, Paul.
  • Naughten, Denis.
  • Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
  • Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
  • O'Brien, Jonathan.
  • O'Dea, Willie.
  • O'Sullivan, Maureen.
  • Pringle, Thomas.
  • Ross, Shane.
  • Shortall, Róisín.
  • Smith, Brendan.
  • Stanley, Brian.
  • Timmins, Billy.
  • Troy, Robert.
  • Wallace, Mick.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Paul Kehoe and Emmet Stagg; Níl, Deputies Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Michael Moynihan.
Question declared carried.
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