Last week, there was great fanfare about the appointment of Ireland to the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is ironic that this country should be appointed as an international guardian of human rights when in the week since that appointment the Government has failed so utterly to uphold the rights of vulnerable citizens and their families, both in this country and abroad. The Government has failed in its duty to uphold the rights of a young pregnant woman, the late Ms Halappanavar, to choose an abortion when she begged for one with tragic consequences. The Government has failed to provide the independent public inquiry for which her family has asked repeatedly to investigate her death. The Government has failed to speak out about the rights of young children and their families who are being massacred by Israeli missiles and artillery fire in Gaza as we speak.

Hear, hear.

The Government has failed to vindicate the rights of children with special needs and families affected by disability who are marching on the Dáil today. It has failed to protect the rights of the elderly-----

Is this a question?

It is on human rights.

-----whose representatives delivered a petition here yesterday begging for an end to the cuts being imposed on the vulnerable and elderly citizens.

It is a back-of-a-lorry speech.

Will the Taoiseach do the job that he was appointed to do in the United Nations and vindicate the rights of women to choose their own fate? Will he vindicate the rights of children in Gaza not to be massacred by Israeli weapons? Will he vindicate the rights of the disabled, those with special needs and the elderly in our society so that we can truly deserve this appointment as a guardian of international human rights?

Now answer that, Taoiseach.

I am not sure what is the Deputy's question out of that international rant.

It is about human rights, very simple.

The decision of all the countries to vote for Ireland in this case was an important one and a significant appreciation of the different position in which Ireland is now seen internationally. There were five very strong candidates for three places. Our ambassador will represent us very well in that seat.

Deputy Boyd Barrett made comments in respect of the late Savita Halappanavar as statements of fact. The reason for having an investigation is to determine the circumstances, facts and truth of these matters. From that point of view, Deputy Boyd Barrett has joined a long litany of people who make statements of fact as if they were there. That is the reason for the investigation in the first place, to find that out. I am sure the Deputy shares that view. He talked about a range of other issues here that he has had an opportunity to raise at different times.

In so far as doing the job is concerned, the mandate given to this Government - comprised of the Fine Gael and Labour Parties - is to deal with the question of our public finances, restore our international reputation, and provide opportunities for jobs and growth-----

Taking the scenic route.

-----with an agenda whereby people can have the opportunity to live and work in this country if that is what they wish to do. In addition, the mandate is to retrieve and restore our economic independence and give our country back to our children. That is what we will do.

I only stated facts. There may be grey areas, including who's, why's and wherefores, concerning the death of Savita Halappanavar, but Praveen Halappanavar's word about one fact is good enough for me. For three days, Savita Halappanavar asked for an abortion and she was denied her right to that abortion. The word of families who are on the streets today with children with special needs or affected by disability is good enough for me.

We are not having comprehensive statements. The Deputy should put a supplementary question.

There is something wrong if their rights are not being vindicated. In addition, children have been massacred in Gaza, like the al-Dallu family whose four young children were killed during the week.

What is the Deputy's supplementary question?

What is the Taoiseach going to do to vindicate those rights? They are the rights of women, like Savita Halappanavar, to choose their own fate when they are pregnant, the rights of young children in Gaza not to be massacred by Israeli weapons, the rights of the elderly, the disabled and those with special needs to live a dignified existence and not have their lives degraded by brutal and unjust austerity cuts.

Before the Taoiseach replies, I wish to make it quite clear that the idea of Leaders' Questions was to provide an opportunity for leaders to ask a question. I was tolerant in respect of Deputy Boyd Barrett on the basis that I understood he was talking about human rights, but we are not going to have an umbrella of questions to the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions. Let us understand that clearly for the future.

Deputy Boyd Barrett is opposed to any cuts and tax increases, and he assumes that this country can rectify itself by continuing on as it did in the past. That is not going to be the way.

The question was about human rights.

Please allow the Taoiseach to continue.

We have to deal with our domestic problems as fairly as we can. That is why the Government will continue to make its decisions in the fairest and most equitable way we can in order to sort out our own public finance problems here. We will continue to work with our colleagues in Europe to get the co-operation we need in respect of reducing and dealing with our debt sustainability.

Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned abortion, special needs, disability and Gaza.

The human rights of women and children.

On the latter, I might say that this was a focus of intense discussions this week by the Tánaiste representing the Government at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. It will be discussed again on Thursday and Friday in Brussels as part of the European Council meeting there. We hope that the diplomatic initiative that is currently under way can bring a stop to this. Clearly, there are very complex issues involved.

In respect of the expert report group arising from the A, B, C case of the European Court, I outlined yesterday for Members of the House the opportunities that will present themselves for everybody to have their full say on this. To those who say that it took this unfortunate and tragic death for something to happen, I would remind Deputy Boyd Barrett that when the Government was established, part of the programme for Government was that an expert group would be commissioned to report into the options that arise from the decision of the court in the A, B, C case. That report was presented to the Minister last week. We will bring it before Government next week and it will be published. Discussions will take place here and everybody will have an open-ended opportunity to say as much as they want in respect of their views about the options that are presented in the report.