The Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, has dismissed as a 'political whitewash' the Sullivan Report on the controversy following court ruling that the law on statutory rape was unconstitutional.
The report found that the failure to inform the Attorney General of the court case which led to the striking down of the statutory rape law was due to ‘administrative failure’.
Deputy Kenny said that because of the terms of reference set by the Government, the report did not address the questions raised.
He also criticised the delay in publishing it, claiming the Government wanted to avoid debating it in the Dáil.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the Attorney General, Rory Brady, and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, must take responsibility for the failure and he called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the matter.
Trevor Sargent, of the Green Party, said that there was 'too much dejá vu from the Beef Tribunal'.
Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, said the report could be discussed in full in the media, and at a new committee to be established today to examine the issues surrounding statutory rape.
The report by senior civil servant Eddie Sullivan found that there was no suggestion of cover-up or concealment but that the case should have been brought to the attention of the Attorney General on a number of different occasions but was not.
Mr Sullivan makes a number of recommendations for improving procedures in the office of the Attorney General to avoid a recurrence of this problem.
In addition, Mr Brady, has directed that a three-person panel of experts should monitor risk proceedings in legal work in the office every six months.
The Attorney General has also ordered a new procedure whereby Advisory Counsel dealing with a file must make an active decision to designate a file as sensitive, and therefore requiring the active involvement of the Attorney General.
Oireachtas Committee to examine rape decision
Meanwhile, an Oireachtas Committee is to examine whether the Constitution should be changed in the light of the Supreme Court decision on statutory rape.
The committee will be chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Peter Power.
In the Dáil, the Greens and Sinn Féin objected to their exclusion from the committee, but Mr Cowen pointed out that the membership had been chosen in the interests of efficiency and proportionality in the House, and that the Technical Group had one member, Independent TD James Breen.
