Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the House for the opportunity to make this statement. A serious and unfounded accusation has been made against me. It is alleged that I delayed the workings of the Mahon tribunal for five years. This is totally untrue, it is a nonsense and, as I said yesterday, it is untrue.

The tribunal was established to find the truth about accusations of grave wrongdoing against people in public life and I have always co-operated fully with it. Not only do I abide by the letter of the law, I believe in the spirit of the law which established the tribunal. Establishing the truth of what happened in the past is essential to restoring confidence in the future. I support the process of establishing all of the facts and that public life should have the public's respect. I deplore the use of public office for private gain. The Oireachtas established the tribunal and has given it the means to deal with all matters raised. Clearly, it is doing so. It will be for the Dáil and Fianna Fáil to take appropriate measures in light of the findings made by the appropriate authority through due process.

Today, in making this statement dealing more fully with the specific allegation made against me, I respectfully ask that Members give the same consideration already given to the unfounded allegation against me. Being Taoiseach is an enormous privilege. It is a privilege based on the trust and confidence of the people. It is a trust I have never betrayed.

I now come to the ridiculous suggestion that I delayed the working of the tribunal. The fact is that the tribunal has been busy with other modules and is only now commencing hearings on the Quarryvale module. Therefore, no delay has arisen. To suggest that I delayed the tribunal for five years is absolute nonsense.

Some five years ago in my statement to the Dáil on 27 January 1999 about events 15 years ago, I referred to certain documents. In some cases, I read the entirety of those documents into the record of the House. In other cases, I read into the record relevant extracts and on 2 February 1999 my solicitors sent a copy of my Dáil statement to the tribunal together with other documentation. The substance of my statement in the Dáil was that the tribunal would be voluntarily furnished with the information referred to in my statement. This I did. I also mentioned that my statement would be sent to the tribunal. As I have already said, I set out the information either in extract form or in whole document form. In furnishing my statement, setting out in whole or in part the relevant documents, I thereby apprised the tribunal of this relevant information. Moreover, when asked to make discovery I duly discovered the documents available to me and furnished them to the tribunal. The tribunal was fully aware of the contents of the documents because they were quoted at length by me in the statement which it received. The giving of information to a tribunal is at the heart of co-operation. That is what I did, voluntarily.

On the substance of the matters referred to in the tribunal's letter, I had supplied the relevant information to the tribunal in sending it my statement and related material. I will now illustrate why this is so. Specifically, I read into the record of this House the contents of the letter dated 27 July 1989 from then Minister Pádraig Flynn to the Minister of State, Deputy Séamus Brennan. I also read into the record the official report of the meeting in the Department of the Environment and Local Government, which took place on 28 September 1989.

I read the complete text of the letter from the then general secretary of Fianna Fáil to Mr. Pádraig Flynn, dated 6 October 1998. I also read the text of the letter from Ray MacSharry, then Minister for Finance, to John Wilson, then Minister for Tourism and Transport, dated 27 May 1988.

Some months ago, the tribunal wrote to me asking for a narrative statement of all the information I had regarding Mr. Gilmartin's allegation and related matters. It did this when it started work on preparing for this module. The tribunal did not then specifically request me to furnish documents to which I had referred in my Dáil statement. I furnished the requested narrative statement and I attached another copy of my Dáil statement from 1999 setting out all these aspects in full or in part.

The tribunal also wrote to an official in the Cabinet secretariat. The tribunal requested the particular documents which had been referred to in my statement of 1999. This was the first time the tribunal had ever specifically requested these documents. The request was marked, "Strictly Private and Confidential — To be Opened by Addressee Only", in large black print. It was dealt with on that basis by my Department, which carried out a due diligence search of its holdings to ascertain if the records were in its possession. The search was carried out on a "need to know" basis.

The request from the tribunal related not only to specific documents but also, in regard to each document, to "the file from which the document emanated". In the case of five of the documents, my Department's expectation was that such files as existed would be held in other Departments. The tribunal was informed of the Departments likely to hold them.

In the case of one other document, it was clear, on the face of it, that it was a document which had originated in the Fianna Fáil Party headquarters and my Department also brought this to the attention of the tribunal.

I am informed that my Department has dealt with a number of requests for papers in connection with the work of tribunals and the courts. It rightly takes very seriously the conditions of confidentiality that accompany them. It has never felt itself at liberty to contact third parties about records being sought, for fear this might prejudice a tribunal's proceedings. Where it is aware records of interest may be in the possession of third parties, it brings this to the attention of the tribunal, which can then decide how it wishes to proceed in regard to them.

That is what happened in this instance. I was not informed about the request, nor should I have been, as the search related to records in the Department's holding and the relevant files related to the records. It is significant that the tribunal's request was directed to the Government secretariat rather than to me or my solicitors. I was only shown the correspondence in question this morning in light of the public disclosures.

As I have made clear, the correspondence between the official and the tribunal was treated in a confidential manner by this official, which was the appropriate way to deal with the letter, and this happens regularly in all the tribunals. I should also make it clear that this letter from the tribunal was no more than the tribunal seeking documents from sources, as I am sure it has done on hundreds of other occasions in the past and will do in the future.

The tribunal also requested discovery of me, as it likewise has sought discovery of many other people who have or may have information that is of use to the tribunal. I was asked, through this discovery, to furnish the tribunal with all documentation relevant to this module. I furnished to the tribunal all relevant documents that were in my possession or to which I had access. These included documents referred to in my Dáil statement of 27 January 1999.

The suggestion that I have delayed the work of the tribunal is untrue. The tribunal has never in any way complained to me about any delays or expressed dissatisfaction with my co-operation with it. The implication that I was unwilling to hand over these documents is unsustainable. These were documents that I myself presented to the House because they bear out my recollection of events. I disclosed their contents to this House and then, through my solicitors, to the tribunal. I have also furnished those documents available to me to the tribunal.

I welcome the opportunity to address some of the spurious political smoke which has been contrived by Members of the Opposition in the aftermath of the leaking of confidential documents, in particular the concerted effort that has been made by some Members to suggest I have questions to answer.

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