On 28 November last, while announcing the resignation of the former Tánaiste, the Taoiseach stated:

The events of the past few days have exposed major problems once again within a dysfunctional Department of Justice and Equality, including the way important emails were not found and therefore not sent on to the Charleton tribunal during discovery. I am therefore directing that there will be an external inquiry into that to report before Christmas.

Later that afternoon, the Taoiseach said: "As of today, I am ordering an external inquiry into why the Department of Justice and Equality did not find those emails and why they were not sent on to the tribunal." The Taoiseach suggested that the Secretary General to the Government would carry out that review, but after concerns were raised by me and others he agreed that somebody from outside the Civil Service would be more appropriate. He confirmed that he was in the process of appointing a senior counsel to carry out a review "as a matter of urgency".

I have a number of questions arising from that. First, is it still the Taoiseach's intention that this report would be completed before Christmas? Second, has the senior counsel been appointed and, if so, who is it? Third, have the terms of reference been agreed and will the Taoiseach publish them? The last question is important because there are still many unanswered questions as to how the trawl was carried out. Given that the country spent a week watching the Government and Fianna Fáil tie themselves in knots over what the then Minister knew and when she knew it, obviously the accounts of the then Minister and her advisers should have been examined and searched as part of this trawl. However, it was confirmed to me in a recent email from the current Minister that, inexplicably, those three accounts were not searched. Can the Taoiseach provide an assurance that the failure to search these accounts in the trawl will be examined as part of the senior counsel's review? If so, will he direct the Department to check these accounts for correspondence relevant to the disclosures tribunal?

I ask the Taoiseach to reply to my three direct questions. Also, will he include the failure to search those email accounts?

To follow up briefly on the last Deputy's question, the number of people currently waiting for a cataract operation in Ireland is 8,667. That is down from 10,304 in April, so there has been a 25% reduction already in the number of people waiting for cataract procedures. We anticipate that continuing to fall in the months ahead. The 8,667 people are waiting for any amount of time. In some cases they might be waiting for a long period while some might only be waiting a few weeks.

On the questions put by Deputy Shortall, following our interaction and the Deputy's correspondence to me, I took the decision that it would be more appropriate to have an independent person, a senior counsel, rather than a civil servant carry out the investigation of why certain documents were not discovered and provided to the Charleton tribunal. I am advised by the Minister for Justice and Equality that the senior counsel has been asked to do the work but has not yet confirmed his acceptance of that offer or request. As soon as the person gets back to us and tells us whether he will do it, I will be happy to provide the name to the Deputy.

I do not have the terms of reference with me. Generally, they would be agreed with the senior counsel. It would be appropriate for the person carrying out the investigation to determine why these emails were not discovered and provided to the tribunal, and also to determine if there are any other emails or documents that ought to have been discovered and were not and should now be provided to the tribunal as well.

Can the Taoiseach confirm the timescale he hopes the senior counsel will be working to now? Is it still Christmas or what is the timescale? Also, will the Taoiseach commit to publishing the terms of reference? There has been considerable slippage on this issue and there is much public concern about it.

We know the tribunal made three discovery orders. One of them related to records of the O'Higgins commission of investigation held in the Department of Justice and Equality. We have since learned that two critical pages of that report went missing. Will the disappearance of those two pages be included in the terms of reference? Obviously that was a critical issue when it came to complying with the discovery orders. We also know that the Department made a number of voluntary disclosures. Will the Taoiseach confirm again that those accounts which should have been searched will now be searched, and will he confirm that the reason for not searching them will be included in the terms of reference?

I am told the documents the Deputy referred to have been provided to the tribunal. The Minister for Justice and Equality expects to make the appointment of the senior counsel in the coming days. The original intention was that it would all be done by Christmas but there has been a delay in securing a senior counsel to carry out the work. As a result it will be difficult to get the work done by Christmas. Certainly, the instruction from the Government will be to have it done within a matter of weeks if that is possible. Members will understand that if one commissions somebody to carry out an investigation, it is right and proper to give that person enough time to do it and not set a deadline that might prevent the person from carrying out a thorough and comprehensive job, which must be the priority.

Regarding the terms of reference, it is not possible for me to give a commitment in the House to publish them. I would not have an objection to it but there might be legal or other reasons I am not aware of which would prevent that from happening.