Last Friday, I read in The Irish Times about an extraordinary letter from the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, to party colleagues in relation to a number of matters. Principally, the letter stated that the Minister of State would not stand over a Taoiseach firing a Garda Commissioner without so much as a phone call to the leader of the Labour Party. That is a very serious assertion by a Government Minister. Has the Taoiseach spoken to Deputy White about that assertion and does he agree with what he said about the removal of the Garda Commissioner? I have been asking for ten weeks for a candid and truthful account from the Taoiseach in regard to the reason he sent the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to the home of the Garda Commissioner on that fateful Monday evening prior to the Cabinet meeting, which in itself was an unprecedented move and which sources close to the former Garda Commissioner say left him in no doubt and with no option in regard to what was expected by the Taoiseach. This is a serious issue. The process to be followed with regard to the departure of a Garda Commissioner is laid out in law. The Garda Commissioner can only be removed by the Cabinet. Essentially, the Taoiseach set in train a series of events to remove the former Garda Commissioner without telling the Tánaiste or his Cabinet colleagues.

The Minister of State, Deputy White, has confirmed and said what the public believe to be the truth. For some reason, the Taoiseach will not come into this House and tell the truth and be candid with us as to the actions he took. This is a serious issue that goes to the very core of faith in the public service.

It is a serious allegation.

It is not.

It is an allegation of lying.

It is not. Asking a person to tell the truth is not accusing him of telling lies.

It is a fact.

Sorry; would the Deputy put his question?

Why did the Taoiseach not tell the Tánaiste at the time that he was sending the Secretary General to the home of the former Garda Commissioner following a meeting he had had with officials and with the former Minister, Deputy Shatter? Has the Taoiseach spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy White, who is a member of Government and has made this assertion publicly?

The Taoiseach could do with sending the Secretary General to a few more homes.

No, I have not spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy White, and I do not accept the assertion in his letter. I understand he is involved in a leadership contest in his party.

Deputy Martin made the charge in this House that I fired the former Garda Commissioner. That is the Deputy's charge.

The Minister of State, Deputy White, said the same thing.

In time, Deputy Martin will have to stand over that. I have made this clear on the public record of Dáil Éireann, as is my responsibility. I have said it quite openly and candidly and I have told the truth, although Deputy Martin might not be familiar with the truth. I have said publicly, on the record, that the revelations made to me by the Attorney General arising from the particular case of an unsolved murder in west Cork and the implications of the recordings made at Garda stations for many years were of grave concern to me. I put on the record that it was my duty and my responsibility to have those concerns brought to the attention of the former Garda Commissioner because I would have to inform the Cabinet the following morning of those concerns and anxieties. I am well aware of the legislation regarding the removal of a person of the stature of Garda Commissioner. Deputy Martin has made a charge in this House and he is going to have to stand over it. He will not be able to, with the way he is going about it.

Hear, hear.

With the greatest of respect, one of the Taoiseach's Ministers has made the charge, and the Taoiseach has done nothing about that. He has not even talked to him about it. The Taoiseach has some neck to come in here and lecture me about that when one of his Ministers made the same assertion.

The point is that the former Garda Commissioner, whether or not people liked or disagreed with his policies, was the first person to highlight the issue of the recordings at Garda stations. This was not about a specific phone recording. The Taoiseach needs to stop changing his story as time goes on. This was about the wider issue of phone recordings at Garda stations, about which the Taoiseach claims he was so concerned. Officials in the Department of Justice and Equality were alerted to this by the former Garda Commissioner. A working group had been established, the Attorney General office's was alerted to the matter and a letter was sent to the then Minister for Justice and Equality on the day.

Quiet, please.

The idea that this came as a bolt out of the blue is difficult to comprehend. The essential point is that the Taoiseach, in an unprecedented move which could have only one outcome, sent the Secretary General to the home of the former Garda Commissioner and he did not alert the Cabinet to that. The following morning, prior to the Cabinet meeting, the Secretary General rang the former Garda Commissioner and told him that the concerns of the Cabinet in relation to this issue had not dissipated-----

The heavy gang is back.

-----despite the fact that the Cabinet knew nothing about it. Ministers are on record as saying that they knew nothing about the phone recording controversy or about anybody being sent to the former Garda Commissioner's house. Square that with the truth. It is a serious issue. The Taoiseach cannot hide behind the Fennelly inquiry for a year and a half and hope that it will be buried. He owes it to the public to give a candid, open statement about what happened over that number of days.

Quiet, please.

Deputy Martin can pander to populism if he wishes to do that.

Freagair an cheist.

I have to deal with my responsibilities here, in the office I occupy.

The Taoiseach also has a responsibility to this House.

Answer the question.

I am fully acquainted with the situation in so far as the removal of persons of the stature of a Garda Commissioner are concerned. Deputy Martin made a charge and he will have to stand over that charge.

I stand over it.

What about the Minister of State, Deputy White? Will he have to stand over the charge he made?

The Deputy has now revealed that he was informed on a particular morning that the concerns of the Cabinet had not dissipated. The Deputy will be aware that the Government has established a commission of inquiry, the sole member of which is a Supreme Court Justice who has authorisation, as requested by the committee on justice, which includes representatives of Fianna Fáil, to make decisions relevant to the commission, including its terms of reference. The exact wording is there. I have a duty, as have others, to respond to that. Perhaps, in view of his own revelation, Deputy Martin might be required to be candid about who told him that, in view of the fact that the Cabinet was not informed until I called them together on the morning that I should have.

What is the Taoiseach's point?

The Deputy is now saying he was aware that Cabinet concerns had not dissipated before the Cabinet had ever met.

That is what the Secretary General said.

It is, perhaps, a matter for the sole member to question Deputy Martin about his source of information in that regard. I am quite sure he will be candid and truthful about it.

The Taoiseach is waffling again.

I have to respond to the sole member of the commission and I will do so. I will attend the inquiry. That is my responsibility and that is what I want to do. The committee wrote a letter saying that, in view of the findings-----

That is another stitch-up.

Does the Government have a majority on that committee too?

Would you mind staying quiet and listening to the answers to the questions you have asked?

-----this should be a particular term of reference of the commission of investigation. That was put in by the Government. I will respond to that inquiry truthfully, openly and candidly, as I have done on the record of the House.

Deputy Martin has made the charge that I fired the former Garda Commissioner. I am well aware of my responsibilities under the law. Deputy Martin is going to have to stand over that charge.

Will the Minister of State, Deputy White, have to stand over it?

I will respond in my time whenever the sole member decides-----

Stop hiding behind the commission.

-----to deal with this element of the commission of investigation, as is his sole right and within his authority. He will deal with the issue in his own way.

The Taoiseach should sit down now; he is over-explaining.

Like the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, he has no place to hide.

Like Deputy Bernard J. Durkan, the Taoiseach is a waffler.

I will respond as one Member who will be called before the inquiry. I hope that when the Deputy is called - if that is the wish of the sole member - he will explain what he just said to the House. I hope he will be truthful and candid, as I am sure he will be.

Is Deputy Micheál Martin disappointed? Something did not go right. What is wrong?

Will Deputies, please, stay quiet?

The Members opposite never took responsibility in 14 years.

Thirty years of recording conversations.

Why is the Government side so upset?

I will not be so polite the next time; I will be ordering the Deputy out if he is not careful.

Like the young pups.