DAIL business was suspended three times as opposition deputies attacked the Government on the extradition controversy. Two, Ms Liz O'Donnell (PD, Dublin South) and Mr Willie O'Dea (FF, Limerick East) were suspended amid angry exchanges.
The Taoiseach denied that he had misled the House on the issue and accused opposition parties of "a descent in standards".
The matter was first raised on the Order of Business by PD leader, Ms Mary Harney, who recalled that she had asked about the collapse of the extradition ease against Mr Anthony Duncan in the Dublin District Court at Taoiseach's Question Time on April 24th. Mr Bruton had told her on that occasion he knew with certainty that no fault lay with the office of the Attorney General.
She took it now that he was aware at the time of all of the facts of the case. Yet he went on to tell the Dail he had no reason to believe there was any fault on the Irish side.
When the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Sean Treacy, said it was not in order to raise the matter on the Order of Business, Ms Harney said that extradition was no ordinary matter. It was a sensitive matter of public interest. When, Ms Harney persisted and said that Mr Bruton should reply, the Ceann Comhairle said: "The Taoiseach may not reply."
Mr O'Dea said it would appear from the official report of April 24th that the Taoiseach had misled the House and he wanted the issue clarified. The Taoiseach intervened to demand that Mr O'Dea withdraw the allegation.
Mr Treacy said a member could not say that another member had misled the House, and he called on Mr O'Dea to withdraw unreservedly the implication in his remarks. When Mr O'Dea refused, he was ordered to leave.
Ms O'Donnell, the PDs' spokeswoman on justice, referring to the absence of Mrs Owen from the chamber, said: "I notice that the Minister for Justice has voluntarily withdrawn from the House on this occasion."
As she continued to speak, she was ruled out of order by Mr Treacy.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern said the Taoiseach should find time during the week to allow opposition deputies put their point of view on the matter and the Government to reply.
The Taoiseach said that it was open to deputies to table questions in the House to him regarding what he had said.
"I have not, as is claimed by Deputy O'Dea, misled the House," he said. "The statements that I made were accurate and true, based on the knowledge I had at the time.
"I made it clear that a definitive statement on attribution of responsibility in this matter would be made in a detailed parliamentary reply subsequently by the Minister for Justice. That made it clear that the matter was not one on which I was making a definitive statement.
Mr Ray Burke (FF, Dublin North) intervened to say it was quite extraordinary that the Taoiseach was allowed to speak while Mr O'Dea had been asked to leave. He told Mr Treacy: "This is, desperately unfair of you."
Mr Treacy said it was usual and proper in the House to hear the Taoiseach.
Mr Bruton said he was replying, quite properly, to a question that shad been put to him by the leader of Fianna Fail. Deputy O'Dea had made a statement that was incorrect, to the effect that he had misled the House.
"I did not mislead the House and any examination of the record of the proceedings on the day in question will show that to be the case. And I think it shows a descent in standards for deputies here to use accusations of that seriousness so freely and so lacking in foundation.
Mr Noel Dempsey (FF, Meath) claimed that a deputy should be censured only when he alleged that another member had deliberately misled the House. Otherwise, it was a political charge.
Mr Michael McDowell (PD, Dublin South East) asked when the Taoiseach would make time available in the House to tender an apology to those whom he blamed in the wrong.
He was particularly referring to the activities of the Government press secretary, who had indicated that the fault in the extradition case lay in England. This had led to a demand in London that officials there resign. If there were to be any resignations, they should take place in Ireland, said Mr McDowell.
Mr Bruton repeated that anybody interested in the matter should read the Dail reports of April 24th and they would see that he had not misled the House.
"The response, by the Government press service regarding the matter. was a response to a Sky television programme to the effect, from British sources, that the Attorney General's office was responsible.
That speculation, emanating from Sky television, was dealt with by the Government press secretary on the occasion. And I believe that the Government press secretary, acting as he does, under obviously immediate and instantaneous requirements of the news media, has behaved in this matter, as he acts in all other matters, with the utmost integrity.
"And I think that the attempts by Deputy McDowell, not having succeeded in his attempts to impugn my reputation . . . to attempt to spread the muck further and impugn the reputation of an honourable Government press secretary, simply is indicative of the depths to which both opposition parties have sunk in their attempts to choose any issue at all to raise their flagging profile.
Following inaudible exchanges between the Taoiseach and Ms Harney, Mr Des O'Malley (PD, Limerick East) said it should be put on the record that the Taoiseach had said he first knew about the mislaying of the original warrant by gardai on Tuesday.
The Taoiseach interjected: "I did not. Mary Harney said that."
Mr O Malley asked: "When did you know?" Mr Treacy said that it was not Question Time. Mr O'Malley retorted: "I think it is disgraceful that the Government, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice will not stand up and take the political responsibility on this matter.
Mr Bruton said the administration of the Garda was a matter for the Minister for Justice, and she had accounted to the Dail. As Taoiseach, he accounted, under the relevant responsibilities, for the procedures in the office of the Attorney General.
"In this instance, the Attorney General's office was not, involved in any of the responsibility for what went wrong. The document received by him was not the original. He received a copy. The original was sent to the Garda, and the problem arose because it was lost."
Dr Michael Woods (FF, Dublin North East) said the Taoiseach had confirmed that the original documents were not seen by the Attorney General. Yet documents relating to extradition were supposed to be seen and checked by the AG.
Mr Bruton said the AG had, been supplied with a photocopy of the original document, as was the normal procedure. The original was sent, as was normal, to the Garda, and it would appear that it was mislaid, as was indicated by the Minister for Justice.
As the row continued, Mr O'Malley asked: "Am I looking at the Taoiseach through a pane of glass?"
Mr Treacy attempted to bring the row to an end and called the Minister of State for Finance, Ms Avril Doyle, to resume the debate on the Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill. However Ms Doyle could not be heard above the continuing uproar, as opposition deputies continued to press the matter.
Mr Treacy then adjourned the House for half an hour.
When the House resumed, Mr Ahern said the whips had met but the Taoiseach had refused to have a debate. "There are questions that have to be answered," said Mr Ahern. A short debate was the best way to have matters clarified.
The Taoiseach suggested that questions be put to him next Tuesday and, if necessary, his time for questions could be extended. "I have no problem answering questions because what I have done was truthful," said Mr Bruton.
Ms Harney suggested that the Taoiseach answer questions that afternoon.
The Taoiseach said if deputies wanted to put down questions they should have time to, consider them. I will be forthright with the House next Tuesday in so far as matters fall within my responsibility."
As the interventions continued the Ceann Comhairle suggested that the whips meet to work out the details of a debate. With several deputies offering to speak, the Ceann Comhairle said he was not prepared to "preside over a rowdy House. If you wish that, you better choose someone else."
Ms, Harney said there was one question to be answered - when did the Taoiseach find out that the fault lay on the Irish side?
The Ceann Comhairle attempted to continue with the business of the day. "We are being looked in on by the nation," he said as deputies continued to heckle and intervene. He adjourned the House until after lunch.
The noisy exchanges continued later and led to the expulsion of Ms O'Donnell. She continued to stand in her place and claimed the right to speak as the Ceann Comhairle called the next business.
Earlier, the House heard a detailed statement from the Taoiseach, in response to private notice questions from opposition deputies, in which he rejected any suggestion that the Attorney General was responsible for the failure of the extradition proceedings. He had received a copy of the warrant, as was normal in extradition cases.
The copying of the warrant was done by the Garda and the original was destroyed, apparently in the belief that it was a copy. A search was made for the original but it was not found.
It was the lawyers for Mr Anthony Duncan who, in the District Court, stated that the document in court was a copy rather than the original, as was required for extradition proceedings. No submission was made by lawyers on behalf of the State as to where the blame lay.
"Nor did Government spokesmen inform the media that the fault for the extradition failure lay on the British side. This suggestion was made in open court by the solicitor for Mr Duncan."
The incident was investigated by the Garda authorities. It was, completed on Tuesday last when a full statement was made in a written reply by the Minister for Justice.
Asked by Ms Harney if he knew on April 24th when he answered questions that the fault lay on the Irish side, Mr Bruton said: "No."
Ms Harney: Did anyone in your Department know?
Mr Bruton: It was obvious that an investigation was being conducted by the Garda. No finding had been made.
The Fianna Fail leader referred to the guidelines introduced when the Government came to office, which required that extradition warrants should be brought to the personal attention of the Attorney General.
If that happened, was it not obvious to him that this was a copy?"
Mr Bruton said the original warrant was passed from one police force to the other. The Attorney General was given a copy. The copying facilities were so good that it would have been easy to mistake a copy for the original. When the warrant was examined in court, it was found to have been a copy.
"That was not something that the Attorney General would have been in a position to know." The warrant was not flawed. The problem was that a copy, rather than the original, was produced.
Replying to Mr O'Malley, the Taoiseach said he had "a casual conversation" with the Minister for Justice in which she said something to the effect that the problem "might he on our side". He was unable to say whether that was before he answered questions in the House on May 15th. At that stage the matter was being investigated. "There was an obvious doubt about where the responsibility lay.
Mr McDowell said the House should have been told the original warrant had gone missing and that the blame for this lay on the Irish side rather than having "six weeks of obfuscation".
Mr Dermot Ahern, Fianna Fail chief whip, said it was not good enough for the Taoiseach to say that he had a casual conversation with the Minister for Justice about an issue that was being taken so seriously in Britain "that British officials were being asked to resign over it".
Mr Bruton repeated that the Garda investigation was not completed until Tuesday, when the Minister made a full statement.
Mr O'Malley said that statement was only made in reply to a question from Ms O'Donnell. "If the question had not been put down, there would have been silence.
After 40 minutes of questions, the Ceann Comhairle called the next business, but several deputies were still offering to speak, including Ms O'Donnell, who stood in her place. The Ceann Comhairle ordered her to resume her seat and when she continued to stand and demand a right to be heard, Mr Treacy ordered her to leave.
As Mr Treacy shouted at her, Mr O'Malley retorted: "Conduct yourself, Treacy. I take grave exception to the way the chair is conducting itself. Deputy O'Donnell has tried to raise a legitimate question.
Mr Bruton said he had never heard the Ceann Comhairle referred to so rudely by a deputy using his second name".
Ms O'Donnell said she had been respectful. Mr O'Malley said: "We are not going to put, up with this."
Mr Treacy again asked Ms O'Donnell to leave but she continued standing. He asked the Taoiseach to name her. A motion to suspend her was carried by 64 votes to 58.
After the vote, at 5.05 p.m., Dr Woods again raised the issue. Mr Treacy warned that if members persisted in deliberately obstructing the Chair, he would leave the House. I am not prepared to continue with this obstruction, disdain and disrespect from anyone."
Mr Treacy then adjourned the House for the third time, until 7 p.m.
