SEANAD REPORT:THE MINISTER for Justice was accused of misleading the House by withholding from it correspondence he had received from Judge Peter Smithwick. Thomas Byrne (FF) said if Alan Shatter was not going to resign over the matter, he should be brought to the House to explain why the correspondence had not been put before it.

The Minister had recently said there had been some misreporting surrounding the reasons for putting forward a motion to amend the terms of reference of the Smithwick Tribunal. He had stated that its purpose was not to curtail, impede, confine or interfere with the independence of the tribunal.

Only days previously, he had received correspondence from the judge in which he said: “I see this as a wholly inappropriate attempt by the executive to interfere with the independence of my tribunal.”

Mr Byrne said that while he had not gone as far as the judge had, Mr Shatter had said that his hysterical and grossly distorted misrepresentation of the Government’s position and of the motion was of no benefit to the State or his party.

Fidelma Healy-Eames (FG) said she had been absolutely horrified to hear of two cases of consultants, in a midlands hospital and a Dublin hospital, seeking cash from patients as payment. She wanted the cases brought to the attention of the Minister for Health, who should issue an appropriate directive.

Taoiseach’s nominees Katherine Zappone and Jillian van Turnhout voted with the Opposition in a division on the passing of the committee stage of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011. The Government won by 28 votes to 19.