I wish to highlight, as Minister for Finance, I am precluded from intervening in commercial and operational decisions in any particular bank, even one in which the State has a shareholding. Decisions in this regard, are the sole responsibility of the board and management of the banks, which must be run on an independent and commercial basis. This independence is protected by a Relationship Framework which is a legally binding document that cannot be changed unilaterally. This framework, which is publicly available, was insisted upon by the European Commission to protect competition in the Irish market.

Notwithstanding the above, officials in my Department have been in contact with the bank referred to in the question and it has provided the below response:

“Discussions with the Department of Housing, through the BPFI, are ongoing with Banks to agree and finalise a Priorities Agreement that will put an agreement in place between Local Authorises and Banks to support customers using the Grant.”

There has been a lot of commentary over the past week about the sale of land in Patrickswell, County Limerick. It has been reported that in December 2006 a solicitor acting on behalf of the wife of the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, wrote to the council seeking to purchase the land and that then, the following month, councillors, including Deputy Collins, voted to allow the council to dispose of the land. At that meeting he did not declare his wife's correspondence to the council, and the land was subsequently sold to his wife in 2008. Will the Taoiseach advise if he has spoken to the Minister of State about this? I know the Taoiseach has made clear in media reports that the Minister of State should have recused himself from that meeting, but has the Minister of State given the Taoiseach assurances that he is not in breach of the Local Government Act by not declaring an interest or recusing himself in that vote? Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House that he is satisfied that the Minister of State is not in breach of section 177 of the Local Government Act?

It is policy or promised legislation.

I have not spoken to the Minister of State about this particular matter, but I did speak to him some weeks ago. I understand he is trying to make arrangements to make a statement in the House. I am confident that he has not breached that aspect of the Act. I have been a member of a local authority, as I think Deputy Farrell has. Because this is a reserved function, only a full meeting of the local authority can dispose of property. The Minister of State was not even a member of the council at that time. A local area committee cannot dispose of property.

I wish to raise the urgent need to increase special school capacity right across Ireland. There are parents everywhere in Ireland at the moment who are looking for and fighting for places for their children in special schools. In west Cork we do not even have a special school. That needs to change urgently. I wish to raise the issue of a child who lives close to where we are in the centre of Dublin. Robbie McGrath from Clontarf is 13 years old. He has a dual diagnosis of Down's syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. His mother Marrita has applied to 12 different special schools for a place for him next September. All have rejected her efforts so far because they do not have capacity. Robbie is a flight risk. He has limited vocabulary. He needs help with personal care and feeding. He needs a place in a special school next September. I am asking the Taoiseach to help.

The Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, made an announcement in the past couple of weeks in respect of additional special places in mainstream schools and additional special schools, I think, in Dublin and Cork, but not west Cork. I do not know if that will provide a solution for the young man the Deputy mentioned. I will certainly ask the Minister of State to contact the Deputy directly to see if we can find some way to help.

The Government has just voted to block a question-and-answer session about alleged corruption on the part of the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins. The Taoiseach described a question-and-answer session in the Dáil with a Minister of State as a kangaroo court. That is quite an incredible attitude to take to the basic idea of parliamentary accountability. If I may take the Taoiseach up on what he just said to Deputy Mairéad Farrell, is it his belief that the Local Government Act does not apply at all to local electoral area committees or is it just section 177 that does not apply to them? I do not understand on what legal basis the Taoiseach suggests that is the case. When the Minister of State participated in a meeting which agreed to put land up for sale that his wife had applied to buy, he was acting as a councillor.

Surely the Local Government Act applies to him and therefore his failure to recuse himself, his failure to declare a conflict of interest is not only a breach of the code of ethics but a breach of that legislation and an indictable offence.

In many ways that is the point. This is a Parliament, not a kangaroo court. While the Deputy is a Member of Parliament and I am too, he does not have the authority to decide who has committed a crime and who has not. Nor does he have the authority to investigate it. If an allegation is being made of a criminal nature, there is a proper process by which an investigation can be carried out and a prosecution carried out if warranted. It is not for the Deputy to do that. That is not his role. We are a democracy. We do have a separation of powers between the legislative function of this place and the courts.

The fact that you think you are the person who should make that determination is exactly the problem.

Can the Taoiseach answer the question? On what basis is he saying that the Local Government Act does not apply to local electoral area committees? It is absolute nonsense.

Deputy, please. This is on promised legislation. Please resume your seat.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I apologise but he is not telling the truth to the House. He is pretending there is a legal basis which manages to mean that Deputy Niall Collins's corrupt behaviour is not covered by the Local Government Act. He will not even answer the question about it.

I am now standing up. Deputy Murphy is misusing the time available and there are six more speakers.