On the appointment to the Circuit Court that I asked about, was the Taoiseach aware that the person appointed had a previous professional relationship with the former Fine Gael Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan?

There is no facility for asking the same question.

Can the Taoiseach inform us if there were other expressions of interest in this post? Please do not give the waffle about JAAB. That is one channel. There are others.

Please, Deputy.

If the Taoiseach does not understand that at this stage, I have to wonder-----

Please, Deputy. The Taoiseach may comment briefly. Is he going to do so? He cannot. I call Deputy Kelly.

I will give way to Deputy McDonald.

This is a very unusual procedure.

It is.

I do not go into the relationships of people to any former officeholders or to Deputies in this House if they are appointed to a position through a recruitment process or the-----

What about Máire Whelan?

-----Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, which this appointment went through. It was brought to Cabinet in accordance with the law and the Constitution. That is it.

Were there other applicants?

Please, Deputy McDonald. The Deputy is out of order. I call Deputy Kelly.

We have a period in Taoiseach's questions to return to this topic, a Cheann Comhairle. That may facilitate you given the time that has been used. I object and find the way you are behaving in the Chamber today wrong.

Excuse me. The way who is behaving?

The way the Taoiseach is behaving, by not answering questions. That is utterly without precedent. I asked 18 questions of the Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach last week. The Taoiseach has repeatedly said that if Deputies have questions, they should submit them and they will be answered. They are not being answered. One simple question that I asked was when the Taoiseach was informed that Mr. Justice Woulfe was to be appointed. No date was provided. All 18 questions were merged into one generic, rubbish answer from the Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach. I will seek to meet the Ceann Comhairle later today to discuss how we will go forward. I have been down this road before with Ministers and I will not stop until I get my questions answered. The people of Tipperary put me here to hold this Taoiseach and Minister for Justice to account, and it is my intention to do so. We will get there, slice by slice. The Taoiseach can trust me on that.

Before I ask my question on promised legislation, I want to express my condolences to Damien Carrick, Ciarán, Ríoghna, Sorcha and Eoin on the death of Trish. I have had some dealings with Damien. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam.

I asked the Taoiseach to consult party leaders before making decisions on the changes that will be brought about post level 5, which he is to announce on Friday. He has not done so, which is his prerogative. It is wrong. It is too late now and it is wrong. I offer my commiserations on last Sunday, when my county beat the Taoiseach's county. It is slightly ridiculous that for the sake of ten or 15 extra people, full panels cannot be allowed at all-Ireland semi-finals and finals. I presume common sense will prevail on this.

The Deputy's time is up.

If the Government is going to allow inter-county travel from a certain date in December, there are workers, particularly in healthcare, who give up their time at Christmas to allow people with young children to be at home at Christmas.

The Deputy's time is up.

I am finishing. These healthcare workers give up their time. Will the ban on travel between counties be lifted to allow healthcare workers to travel over the new year period? People should be able to travel until early January so they can go home and see their loved ones. For some workers, New Year's Eve is more important than Christmas Day because they have to relieve people with young families over the Christmas period.

I take strong exception to the Deputy's remarks. I have repeatedly answered questions in here and I have answered the Deputy too.

The Taoiseach might go back and-----

No impersonation of John Wayne will phase me. The Deputy keeps melodramatically suggesting that he will deal with people and that kind of thing.

I am committed to the separation of powers. I am not so sure the Deputy is.

It has nothing to do with the separation of powers. The separation of powers is the reason for asking the question.

The Deputy needs to come clean. At the beginning of this, he suggested to me that I should seek the publication of correspondence.

That is a separate issue.

The Deputy implied that he knew what was in the correspondence.

The Taoiseach had no issue with that either.

So the Deputy knew.

I did not say that.

The Deputy implied that he did.

I did not.

That is an important issue. The Deputy has come in week after week to create a melodrama that is disproportionate to the issue.

We look to the leaders to supply leadership and set examples. Maybe we can stop the clock for a minute. People have understandably been asking the Taoiseach if the Minister will come in and answer questions. He has told us that he wants the Business Committee to meet. I will convene a meeting of the Business Committee this afternoon with a view to seeing what arrangements can be made for the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, to come in. Are we saying that he does not want the Minister to come in tomorrow?

We are not.

Deputy Kelly is shaking his head at me.

We want a statement.

We want a statement.

I need to get clarity on this. Members have repeatedly requested that the Minister for Justice come to the House. I ask Deputy McDonald to resume her seat. The Taoiseach has come in and said that he would request the Business Committee to meet. I am prepared to convene the Business Committee this afternoon, with a view to arranging a meeting here at which the Minister for Justice would answer the questions that Members have.

Are we now saying that we do not want to do that? Is that what Deputies are saying? If that is the case, let us move on, please.

No, we are not.

No, we are not.

A Cheann Comhairle, can I assist you in this so that we have perfect clarity?

Please do.

We are not saying anything of the sort. If the Ceann Comhairle is convening a meeting of the Business Committee with a view to the Minister presenting herself, making a full statement and taking questions and answers, that is precisely what the Opposition has sought now for weeks on end.

That is precisely what I heard the Taoiseach say and it is precisely what I am proposing to facilitate.

I ask then that the Taoiseach take to his feet and confirm it will be a full statement, with questions and answers, as per precedent in this House.

The Taoiseach said that the Business Committee should convene to decide how this should be transacted. I presume he is not going to interfere with how the Business Committee decides.

No, he did not.

I presume he is not going to interfere with how the Business Committee decides.

Does the Ceann Comhairle want the Business Committee to meet so that the Government Chief Whip will let-----

Let us go ahead.

Let us have the meeting this afternoon.

So you do not want to have the meeting.

That is disingenuous.

Excuse me, Deputy McDonald. I am not being disingenuous. I am proposing that we take up an offer that was not available heretofore and we work out the arrangements for conducting a question and answer and statement situation tomorrow. There is nothing disingenuous about that.

On a point of order, on behalf of the Rural Independent Group, I welcome that. I ask the Ceann Comhairle to stop the clock and allow the other Deputies who want to speak to do so. We have spent ten or 12 minutes on this issue which has taken up all the time. That is not fair to all the Deputies from all parties. We should add more time because this has gone way over time.

We will wind the clock back. Sure God knows, we are used to being here all night in any event.

Can I-----

We are not going to start back to that issue. Deputy Kelly has already asked a question. I ask the Taoiseach to resume his seat. Deputy Kelly has had his say.

I asked a question which the Taoiseach did not answer. It had nothing to do with the earlier issue.

The Taoiseach already answered the Deputy at length.

He has not answered me.

I ask the Taoiseach to be brief, please.

It is not too late to brief party leaders on level 5-----

Take the battery out of the clock.

-----and I have no issue in talking to them, as I have consistently in the past. What I said earlier stands. I cannot stress enough that the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is anxious to come in and deal with the issues that Deputies want dealt with.

Will the Taoiseach answer the question on travel and healthcare workers that I asked him?

This is becoming farcical. We are moving on.