The news has just come through from the Central Criminal Court and I am the first to report it to the House. Deputy Paul Murphy, not guilty; Councillor Michael Murphy, not guilty; Councillor Kieran Mahon, not guilty; Frank Donaghy, not guilty; Michael Banks, not guilty; and Scott Masterson, not guilty. That is a stunning defeat for the Deputies on the Government benches and the political establishment. The political establishment in this country wanted to create a powerful chill factor, a powerful warning against anyone who would engage in serious protest against the Government, austerity and the anti-working class agenda. It has failed. I make the call that all the remaining charges in the other Jobstown trials would be immediately dropped. The Government is wasting a fortune in taxpayers' money on these cases.

What about the separation of powers?

More than €10 million will be spent on trying to make out that the accused in Jobstown are guilty. Let us save some money here and be prudent. Let us drop all the remaining charges.

That is up to the court. On a point of order, a Cheann Comhairle.

I congratulate-----

There is no point of order.

There is a point of order. The House cannot instruct the courts.

No, there is separation of powers.

Nobody is instructing anybody as far as I can see.

I congratulate the Jobstown defendants, the community of Jobstown and the men and women of the jury for defending the right to protest.

Does Deputy Barry have a question?

I have a question and I will soon come to it. Could the Tánaiste comment on the appalling vista that now opens up regarding the role of the Garda Síochána in this affair? The jury has just thrown out a case that was based on 180 witness statements from members of the Garda Síochána, three of whom – a chief superintendent, an inspector and a sergeant – said they heard Deputy Paul Murphy say: "Will we let her go or will we keep her all night?" That claim was completely contradicted by the video evidence. One could understand that one garda might have misheard but not that the three gardaí misheard the exact same words. Can the Tánaiste deny that there was an orchestrated conspiracy by the Garda Síochána to pervert the course of justice?

One thing we do not do in this House is re-run court cases. There is a separation of powers.

Hear, hear.

We just heard the result of this case and we respect the court decision. Justice takes its course in any trial. The evidence is considered. This was a jury trial and the jury made its decision. Justice takes its course. We can discuss lots of things in this House but we certainly do not re-run the evidence that is given in a trial and I do not intend to do that now.

Deputy Barry spoke about a Government agenda on the issue but that is simply untrue. The courts do their work and we do our work in this House.

This is a stunning defeat for the political establishment. A Government Minister gave evidence for the prosecution in this case. The former Tánaiste was the star witness for the State. To the crimes of the Labour Party of heaping austerity on working class voters down through the years we can now add a shabby attempt to frame socialists and working class activists for standing up for their communities and against austerity.

That is shocking.

Ordinary people will think the role of the Labour Party in this affair has been shocking.

That is an outrageous argument.

Clearly, there was an attempt to gain revenge against those of us on the left who have defeated the Government on bin charges.

Deputy Barry should ask a question please.

Does the Tánaiste disagree that what was at stake, with four of the six defendants who stood in the dock today being members of Solidarity, was an attempt, following the surge to the left and the Corbyn surge in the UK, for the Government to get its retaliation in first and to knock the left back? That has failed quite spectacularly and the left is on the front foot now.

While a court case is under way in this House we have always followed the precedent of not commenting on it in detail. We follow that very carefully, as in many court cases there is always the possibility of appeal, and I intend to continue to do that today.