Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has accused the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, of showing total contempt for the Dáil and the entire parliamentary system by refusing to give a detailed answer to questions about his meeting with private detective Billy Flynn last year.
Mr Rabbitte also accused Ceann Comhairle Rory O'Hanlon of a persistent failure to uphold the rights of opposition TDs.
The Labour leader tabled four Dáil questions for written answer, following media reports that Mr McDowell had a meeting in June 2005 with private investigator Billy Flynn, who was a witness at the Morris tribunal, at the detective's home in Co Meath.
"The same reports indicated that Minister McDowell was, at that meeting, supplied with a number of documents which he later used on a television programme in a spurious effort to suggest a previous Minister had knowledge of events concerning the gardaí in Co Donegal and that she had failed to act on this information," said Mr Rabbitte.
"It is unprecedented, in my experience, for a Minister for Justice to have a meeting with witness at a tribunal of inquiry established by the Oireachtas, to discuss issues that were properly a matter for that tribunal and I tabled a series of detailed questions seeking further information," he added.
The questions asked by Mr Rabbitte were: if the proposed meeting had been discussed with Departmental staff; the reason no Departmental staff were present; if a minute of the meeting had been created; if a schedule of the documents supplied to him had been created; if the documentation was retained in the Department of Justice; if any of the documents he had received were forwarded by him to the Morris tribunal; and if he had checked with the Morris tribunal as to whether or not the person he was meeting was likely to be recalled as a witness at the tribunal.
"I can confirm to the Deputy that I have met and spoken to the person concerned on a number of occasions," replied Mr McDowell in a terse written response.
Mr Rabbitte said the reply was "a calculated two-fingered gesture of contempt for the Dáil and the entire parliamentary system".
