Taoiseach Bertie Ahern defended the delay in publishing the Travers report on illegal charging in nursing homes until today.
Responding to Opposition demands that the report be circulated yesterday, so that he could face questions in the Dáil this morning, Mr Ahern said: "The concept that a report should just appear and that I should immediately be answerable for it is not reasonable. It is sometimes a good idea to read reports and that is what I would like to do."
Amid heated and bitter exchanges, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte asked why the Taoiseach did not have a note on the political fallout "of exposing the taxpayer to a fine of what we are told will be in the order of between €500 million and €2 billion".
He added: "Are the rumours in the press about the sacking of officials justified? I do not know whether they are warranted because I have not read the report, unlike the Taoiseach who has had it since Friday." Mr Rabbitte added that Mr Ahern had spoken of reading the report in seven or eight hours, adding that "one would read War and Peace in that time".
When the Labour leader declared that he hoped there would be a Dáil debate before Mr Ahern escaped from the House, the Taoiseach replied: "I am not escaping anywhere."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny demanded to know if the Taoiseach intended taking action against former minister for health Micheal Martin and Ivor Callely and Tim O'Malley, ministers of State when Mr Martin served in the Department.
"If these persons did nothing during their time in the Department of Health about the situation whereby hundreds of thousands of people had payments illegally taken from them by the Government, is the Taoiseach prepared to stand up and be decisive in terms of his requirement as Taoiseach ?" he added.
Mr Ahern said that the Tánaiste had said on December 16th that she had asked the report to be delivered on March 1st.
"The Government received the report this morning at its weekly meeting.
"It is a long, detailed and very important report, which the Government discussed this morning for the first time," he added.
On the advice of the Attorney General, the Government had decided that the method of publication should be through the Oireachtas, said Mr Ahern.
"Members of the Oireachtas will be given a copy of the report tomorrow morning and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children will be in a position to consider it in the first instance," said Mr Ahern.
"A full debate on the report will take place in due course. It is lengthy and detailed, running to more than 160 pages, which is deserving of careful consideration."
Mr Ahern insisted that it would be inappropriate for him to make any further comment on the report in advance of its publication, other than to express his thanks and that of the Government to Mr Travers for undertaking the investigation. He said that the Government would "proceed to take appropriate decisions on the issue, having regard to the Travers report, at the earliest possible opportunity".
Earlier, Mr Kenny demanded to know why the report was being delayed until today. "I would like to ask the Taoiseach if there were legal charges which required further AG's advice before it can be published," he added.
Mr Kenny suggested there had been some internal media manipulation on the issue so that the Taoiseach would not have to be in the House for five weeks to answer questions. When the House next met, Mr Ahern would be attending a European Council meeting, he added. The Opposition wanted a full Dáil debate.
