I rise today to raise the Taoiseach's misleading of the Dáil last week on two occasions, albeit not deliberately, in regard to the Tánaiste's knowledge of the Garda Commissioner's legal strategy at the O'Higgins inquiry.

The utterances by the Taoiseach were at the very least contradictory. I call on the Tánaiste to explain to the House why she misled the Taoiseach and to address the House on how and when she did so. The Tánaiste also needs to explain why she continually expressed her confidence in the Commissioner.

I ask Senator Ardagh to be careful. It is a very strong statement to say that the Taoiseach misled the Dáil.

Hear, hear.

I would be careful. I know the Senator said that it was unintentional but just bí cúramach.

And it was in the other House.

My apologies. I withdraw that statement.

Senator Norris is correct in his intervention in that we are dealing with the other House. The Senator may continue but she should be careful in how she phrases her comments.

My apologies. However, I would like the Tánaiste to come to this House and explain why she continually expressed her confidence in the Garda Commissioner since 2015 in the knowledge that the Commissioner had instructed her legal team to discredit Sergeant Maurice McCabe at the O'Higgins commission. It is incumbent on her to come to the Seanad, to show us the same respect she showed RTÉ at lunchtime, and to explain and clarify matters in this regard.

I would also like to raise the issue of the HSE and waiting lists, in particular the issue of why the HSE and certain hospitals around the country are not implementing some of the 2008 consultant contracts. An "RTÉ Investigates" programme last week highlighted this issue. I am sorry but I am getting a bit distracted.

Sorry, there is interference.

I would like to raise the issue of the "RTÉ Investigates" programme last week which showed that certain hospitals and the HSE were not implementing the consultant contracts from 2008. It showed that one consultant had worked 13 hours in a public hospital over eight weeks. There are 2,700 consultants working in 47 acute hospitals around the country. They are meant to work an 80:20 ratio of public hours to private hours but this programme showed that some consultants have been spending more than 20% of their time working in private hospitals. This does not just affect private coffers; it affects the health system and public health waiting lists. Last week I came across a young boy who is waiting for a dermatology appointment. He has been given an appointment on 19 March 2019. This is very unfair. The Minister for Health should address the House on waiting lists.

On 11 October I raised the issue of the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people from their homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. It deeply disturbs me that, despite worldwide condemnation, the Government of Myanmar and in particular its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, are still standing by and allowing this humanitarian crisis to continue. Aung San Suu Kyi has received many awards for human rights including the Nobel Peace Prize, the Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International and the freedom of the city of Dublin. These awards ring hollow in light of the lack of action taken by the Government of Myanmar. It behoves us, as a nation, to call Ms Aung San Suu Kyi to account. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to make a public statement condemning the Government of Myanmar.

Nobody seems any wiser this afternoon as to when the Tánaiste and then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, knew of the plan to discredit Maurice McCabe at the O'Higgins commission. The horrendous impact of the disgusting behaviour by those who have been protected by Government on Maurice McCabe and his family is now widely known. Of course, it is not only Maurice McCabe. It is also all of those who did not have the foresight and good fortune to tape the contents of meetings they had with those who set out to discredit them; all of those who have been subject to lies, innuendo and intimidation; and all of those who lost out on promotions just because they questioned practices they knew to be wrong.

Once again we see today that the spectacular waste of money that is the strategic communications unit, a Government unit which is supposed to slickly get news out to the public, has suddenly gone silent at a key time.

The Taoiseach has provided little or no clarity in the Dáil today. We have to remember that all of this has come to light because of the work of good investigative journalists. We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to them. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste did not volunteer this information.

Serious questions remain. How did the Tánaiste, in her then capacity as Minister for Justice and Equality, read an email alleging serious wrongdoings without taking action on foot of it? How does she remember reading it in the first place? Where was this email for the past two and a half years? The Taoiseach has continually backed up the entire Department of Justice and Equality in defence of the former Minister for Justice and Equality and current Tánaiste. Three years have passed since he described the Department of Justice and Equality as "not fit for purpose". Under the stewardship of Fine Gael, which likes to call itself the law and order party, the Department of Justice and Equality has lost two Garda Commissioners, two Secretaries General and two Ministers inside two years. One could not make it up. It has been said that Sinn Féin is not fit for Government.

I am glad the Senator is admitting that it is not.

The Leader will have his chance.

If the Leader thinks the record I have set out supports the idea that Fine Gael is fit for Government, he has lost all sense. An absolute farce has been happening. Where is the collective Cabinet responsibility in all of this? The lack of detail in the answers that have been given so far serves to increase public cynicism regarding politics in general. Will the Minister come into this House to address the many questions arising from what has become apparent in recent days?

I remind Senators that a commission - I understand it is not a tribunal of inquiry - is looking into the Sergeant McCabe allegations. I think it would ill-behove any of us in this House to come to conclusions before that investigation has been completed. I advise Senators to bí cúramach on that issue. The suggestion that there was a smear campaign against Sergeant McCabe has not been verified or established. It is a matter for the commission and not for this House. I remind Senators to be careful.