The main news of the past 24 hours has been the shock resignation of the former Minister for Justice and Equality and Defence, Deputy Alan Shatter. It gives me no great pleasure to comment on him, adversely or otherwise, on behalf of Fianna Fáil. I have known him for a long time. I served under him when he was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and travelled with him on a number of important visits to various countries. I have always found him to be a man of outstanding integrity. He has a wonderful brain and is a great loss to the body politic of this country. While there has been no comment about this, one wonders what will be his political future now that he has stood down from a job he coveted for most of his political life having spent a considerable time on the back benches before he was promoted to high office. I wish him, Carol and his family well in that regard.

Deputy Alan Shatter's resignation came long after his credibility as Minister for Justice and Equality had evaporated. We in Fianna Fáil have continuously questioned his approach to the administration of justice. Many of the concerns the party raised are still under investigation. Four investigations are ongoing in his former Department - the GSOC bugging scandal or the Cooke report which we await; the whistleblowers dossier-Guerin report which led to his resignation; the GSOC penalty points investigation; and the commission of investigation into Garda telephone recordings. We await the publication of the Guerin report tomorrow. The former Minister decided to resign as a result of its contents, despite the fact that he had only read three chapters, which leads me to wonder what else is in the body of the report.

Questions have arisen. We still do not know the contents of the letter from the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, to the Department of Justice and Equality or a believable account as to why the former Minister was not informed about it. Fianna Fáil has called for the letter to be published to set out what it contains. The letter falls under section 41 of the 2005 Act requiring the Minister to be informed about it. It is extraordinary when one considers the litany of events that have taken place in the past few weeks surrounding him and his Department. We have witnessed an incredible series of shocking failings. The breach of data protection legislation, the penalty points debacle, shocking revelations of potential bugging of GSOC, the exposure of the former Minister's contemptuous treatment of the whistleblower, Sergeant Maurice McCabe, the sacking of the Confidential Recipient, Mr. Oliver Connolly, the forced resignation of the Commissioner and unbelievable claims of ignorance of recordings have all happened under the former Minister's watch.

Fianna Fáil has taken a constructive approach in all these matters and is committed to copperfastening the administration of justice. I commend my party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, who was the first to raise Sergeant McCabe's dossier which Sergeant McCabe first brought to the attention to the authorities as far back as 2008. It was brought to the attention of the former Minister in 2012 and nothing was done until Deputy Micheál Martin produced it in the Dáil several weeks ago, following which the Taoiseach finally had to acknowledge the serious allegations contained therein which have led to the Guerin report. We have produced a detailed Bill to overhaul GSOC, bring the Commissioner within its remit, allow for internal Garda complaints and enable GSOC to access the PULSE system, which is vital in pursuing cases. An independent commission of investigation is necessary to reveal the full truth of these cases.

It gives me no great pleasure and I do not want to give the impression that I am dancing on a political grave, but it is a sad loss whenever a Minister has to resign. John Drennan of the Sunday Independent earlier referred to the "moving finger". He says the finger has now moved to the Department of the Taoiseach which has serious questions to answer because, up to the last moment, both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste steadfastly stood by their man, helped by the backbenchers in both Houses, including in the context of the issues surrounding the resignation of Mr. Callinan, the early morning visits, the late night telephone calls and so on.

The Senator is way over time.

That is no way to carry on business. The Government is a shambles and perhaps we are approaching the time for it to go.

I assure Senator Paschal Mooney that the motions will be properly debated in due course. There is no doubt about Deputy Alan Shatter's reforming zeal, his commitment to equality and immense law reform record but, equally, I wish the new Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and the new Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Charles Flanagan, every success. The Taoiseach will take over the Department of Defence. I reiterate Senator Ivana Bacik's comments that the motions will be debated properly and thoroughly. Equally, the Guerin report which is comprehensive will be published tomorrow morning and dealt with. The Cooke report and the other reports to which Senator Paschal Mooney referred will also be properly dealt with in due course.

I will not comment on the events surrounding the former Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter's resignation, but I extend personal thanks to him. When he was Opposition spokesperson on children and I was chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, he always showed his belief in children's rights, and he certainly took that into his role as Minister for Justice and Equality. His engagement with us as Members of the Seanad is something, perhaps, of which others could take note. When I tabled amendments, he engaged robustly but also fairly with us. He will be a considerable loss to our work, certainly on the long list of issues on which I am working such as child abuse material on the Internet and the release of counselling notes. I welcome the appointment of Deputy Frances Fitzgerald to the position of Minister for Justice and Equality and Deputy Charles Flanagan to the position of Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

I want to raise an issue today. I oppose the Order of Business because I do not agree that we should take three reports without debate. Each of them merits its own debate.