Similar to last week and yesterday, I propose an amendment to the Order of Business: "That in accordance with Standing Order 56, the Attorney General be invited to attend the Seanad today to discuss the taping of telephone conversations in Garda stations." The Attorney General should attend to give an account of the incredible affairs of recent weeks in order that this House can participate on behalf of the public in getting to the bottom of these matters. "A masterclass from Shatter in sarcasm, contempt and a dollop of faux humility" is the most accurate account I read in today's newspapers of yesterday's charade in the Lower House. It is incredible that these matters are being accounted for in the way they are.

I posed my first question last week to the Leader. How many special committees are in operation in each Department under the authority of a Minister without his or her knowledge? Second, if the Secretary General is missing because of a bereavement, holiday or illness or anything else, does anyone else in the Department of Justice and Equality do his or her work? If the Attorney General is missing because of a family event, does anybody in her office do her work or do the affairs of the State simply come to a halt regardless of the seriousness of the matters at hand because an individual is missing through illness, leave or other issues? I am bound to say on behalf of Fianna Fáil that if that is the case, I am concerned about any of these people ever leaving their desks.

Many questions are outstanding from last week. The Taoiseach told us the Cabinet was gravely concerned about these matters and, therefore, he had to shaft the Commissioner by sending Mr. Purcell to his house. At that stage, the Cabinet had not even been informed about the letter from Mr. Callinan or the extent of the taping. How could the Cabinet have had so much concern if it had not even discussed the issue at that stage? At the Monday night meeting during which Mr. Purcell was clearly despatched to the Commissioner's house, there was no mention at all of the letter from Mr. Callinan.

I am concerned about the autopilot regime that has come into existence in Government Buildings. Once the Attorney General goes outside the door, nothing happens. Once the Secretary General of the Department is ill or at home, nothing happens and once the Minister is at a book launch or in Mexico or anywhere else, it seems nothing happens. Whether the Minister, the Secretary General of his Department, the Attorney General or whoever goes, the affairs of State must continue and the public are entitled to have confidence that, whoever happens to have an ingrown toenail, have a day off or be attending a family function, their concerns as citizens of the State are being looked after. In the context of the debate yesterday, the account of affairs by the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality and the Minister display a disgraceful contempt for the public in the neglect that is being shown to them and the fantasy account of events that is simply not believable. That is why each day until further notice under Standing Order 56 we expect the Attorney General to come to this House, which has the most current of mandates, much more so than the Dáil, and give an account.

The Senator would be surprised.

I look forward to being surprised. I assume that when she comes to the House we will get a detailed account.

The Senator should withdraw some of the remarks he has made.

Senator Marc MacSharry without interruption

That is what is required and that is what the public are entitled to rather than this show. Can Senator Terry Brennan confirm that she will come to the House?

The Senator would be surprised.

I very much welcome the fact that she will come. We will get to vote on the amendment shortly.

The White Paper on universal health care which is three years in preparation will be launched later and I would like the House to debate it because according to the king of announcements, the Minister for Health, we now have free GP care for under-sixes, but that is not happening and there was no consultation with doctors. The White Paper will state nothing about the cost of universal health care. but the system will be in place in its entirety within five years.

In addition, yesterday I raised other issues relating to the health service and the fact that it was at breaking point in the context of front-line services. An urgent debate is needed with the Minister on what is going on the ground versus the airy fairy aspirations in various announcements once a month.

The Leader will respond to Senator Marc MacSharry's amendment, but it seems like an act of desperation and a desperate diversionary tactic by Fianna Fáil to put the same issue to a vote for the third day running. It seeks to divert attention away from its own serious responsibility for the matters that have come to light in recent weeks regarding tape recordings both in Garda stations and, as we know since yesterday, prisons. The Garda station recording system was upgraded under the watch of the then Fianna Fáil Minister, Mr. Dermot Ahern, in 2008 and there are serious questions to answer about that regime in the Department of Justice and Equality.

Bring him in, too.

We need to hear from him.

We cannot have the 2011 election again. How many times does the Government want to have that election? We lost 53 seats. Fine Gael and the Labour Party are in government now.

Senator Ivana Bacik to continue, without interruption.

I had the courtesy to listen to the Senator, although it was difficult do so without interrupting him.

We want to listen to the Attorney General, not the Senator. She is just spinning.

Clearly, the Senator does not have the self-restraint that I do because I restrained myself from interrupting him.

The Senator is the queen of restraint.

The decorum of the House is being destroyed.

I restrained myself from interrupting Senator Marc MacSharry and listened with courtesy and he should do the same in the spirit of the way we conduct business in a respectful manner-----

When will the Attorney General come?

-----but he, clearly, cannot restrain himself.

That is four times.

Senator Marc MacSharry has an anger management issue.

If the Senator cannot contribute without interruption, I will have no choice but to suspend the sitting.

I thank the Cathaoirleach. The responsibility of former Ministers such as Mr. Dermot Ahern will be one of the issues the commission of investigation will investigate and we all very much hope it will do so expeditiously and we will find answers to the questions as to who knew what and when, particularly when systems were upgraded. I very much welcome the appointment of Supreme Court judge, Mr. Nial Fennelly, to lead the commission, the establishment of a Cabinet committee on justice reform and the fact that we, on the justice committee, will also work to improve and strengthen Garda procedures.

I refer to the new revelations about the inadvertent taping of prisoners' calls, which again gives rise to serious concerns about breaches of prisoners' right to privacy and the potential liability of the State in civil actions taken by prisoners. This system was installed in July 2010 under the watch of then Minister, Mr. Dermot Ahern, and the previous Government and it seems that system has remained in place under the radar of the prisoner authorities since that date. I commend Mr. Michael Donnellan, the head of the Irish Prison Service, who took pre-emptive action last week to proactively investigate whether calls were being taped within prisons and uncovered the fact that the calls of quite a number of prisoners were being taped in this way. All these matters need to be investigated by the commission of investigation, which I very much welcome. It is clear we need to know more about the dates and the extent of knowledge at the top levels in the Department of Justice and Equality, the Irish Prison Service and the Garda.

Today a ceremony will take place in Glasnevin Cemetery to commemorate the centenary of the foundation of Cumann na mBan. I am sure many female Members, in particular, would love to be there, but it is welcome that we are having an official occasion to mark that important centenary and that we are seeing, as a result, a great deal of renewal of interest in the members of Cumann na mBan and the role they played in the struggle for independence.