On behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, we are very sorry to hear that Senator Denis Landy has resigned. He served as a public representative since 1988 and served as a Mayor of Carrick-on-Suir Town Council on two occasions. He was elected to Seanad Éireann in 2011. I would like to thank him, on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group, for his many years of public service and wish him all the best for the future.

What we have seen in the past few hours was an element of accountability which was very much lacking in the past few weeks. I do not intend to rehash events, but we saw parliamentary questions go unanswered, selective amnesia and a failure to comply with discovery requests by a dysfunctional Department of Justice and Equality. The fact that further documents were uncovered by the Taoiseach at the weekend demonstrates further the inadequacies in the Department of Justice and Equality. I was glad to hear that the Taoiseach has directed that an external inquiry into the failure to discover adequately to the Charleton tribunal those emails he found over the weekend be established. I ask the Leader to ask the Taoiseach when this will be set up and who he intends to appoint as an independent external investigator.

It all begs the question of what other documents, memos, letters, etc., have not been handed over to the tribunal. Have any of these documents been destroyed? The Taoiseach also recommended the full implementation of the Toland report. I ask the Leader to ask the Taoiseach for more detail on when this will commence. Time is of the essence, as the Department of Justice and Equality is one of the central pillars of our justice system and democracy. The Taoiseach also indicated that he will examine the relationship between the Department and An Garda Síochána.

He also outlined that replies to parliamentary questions in respect of this matter will be reviewed to ensure that answers are complete. Ultimately, it is important that there are no more secrets in the Department of Justice and Equality or any other Department. The concept of parliamentary accountability needs to be upheld, something the events of the past few weeks have demonstrated.

The upside to having avoided an election is that our negotiating team at the European Council summit will have ample time to put into its preparation strategy. The Government and Fianna Fáil are ad idem in regard to the strategy for Ireland which is, ultimately, that we should not have a hard border. We know a disorderly hard border will be disastrous for Ireland. In a recent survey, the British Irish Chamber of Commerce reported that 53% of Irish firms believe Brexit presents a greater threat than opportunity to their firm. In comparison, 28% of respondents believed Brexit presents a greater opportunity. Our small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy. They must be listened to and their concerns taken into account during the summit.

We must take the time to prepare properly for these important discussions. I call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, to address the House on the preparations he has made to date in respect of all eventualities. To quote his fellow Cork man - not Deputy Micheál Martin - "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail."

I would like to send my good wishes to Senator Denis Landy. I am sorry to hear he has resigned. He was an exceptionally hardworking Senator, and a good county councillor and representative of the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, for many years. He advocated strongly for city, county and local councillors in terms of their remuneration, conditions of employment and developing policy, education and training on an ongoing basis. He will be greatly missed by his colleagues in Tipperary, the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and LAMA, with which he worked very hard.

He was an exceptionally hard worker and will be missed. He was tremendously proud on his first day. I met him the day he was first elected to Seanad Éireann and he was particularly pleased. We had a healthy rivalry in the last election because I was also on the agricultural panel. He will be missed on a number of fronts and I want to wish him well in whatever he decides to do in the future.

I renew my request that the Taoiseach be invited to come to Seanad Éireann at some point, this side of Christmas if possible or in the new year. It would be an important step for the House and the Taoiseach to have some sort of engagement. It is to be hoped the Leader will take that up.

I again ask for the Minister responsible for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to come before the House at some stage. There seems to be some conflict between who will ultimately fund the commitments following from the convention, in terms of the Departments of Finance or Health. This seems to be a stumbling block. At the end of the day, it is Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance which are in government. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has responsibility for disabilities.

There is a commitment in the programme for Government to deliver on this and it is important that we keep the pressure on and ask people in government to explain what is happening. I would appreciate if the Leader could arrange for a briefing on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with a view to signing the convention as soon as possible.

I wish to pay tribute to Senator Landy. Apart from anything else, he was an absolute gentleman any time he worked with any of us in here. He is a great trade unionist and a great socialist. He represents the very best values of people on the left and I wish him and his family well for the future, while acknowledging that he will be a huge loss to this Chamber.

I request that an amendment be made to the Order of Business and ask that the Taoiseach come in to the House today to make a statement about the resignation of the Tánaiste and other related matters. It has been a fairly momentous week. I must declare a personal interest. I went to school with Maurice McCabe. I was very good friends with his younger brother. I know what a fine, upstanding family they have always been. There was a horrendous conspiracy against Sergeant McCabe on behalf of the State, and unfortunately we now know, because of the information that has been released over the last number of days, that when the Tánaiste found out about the attempt to blacken and smear his good name, she chose to turn a blind eye to that. It is unforgivable. This is not about anything in a personal sense; it simply is about political accountability. That is why Sinn Féin put down the motion of no confidence in the Tánaiste. We have no doubt but that had that motion not been put down, she would still be in place today. We did the right thing and we will always do the right thing. Our job is to challenge the Government when we see wrongdoing and the decision by the Tánaiste to basically turn a blind eye to what was happening to Sergeant McCabe and the horrendous attempt to smear his good name is simply unforgivable.

The Leader had to take one for the team this morning. He appeared on "Morning Ireland" to defend the indefensible. I almost felt sorry for him, to be frank.