Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Although, unusually, I have not seen the Taoiseach's script, he has denied that he delayed the work of the planning tribunal for five years and I am minded to accept that. I think the allegation, though, is transparently nonsense. The Taoiseach says that some in the Opposition have used spurious political smoke to make allegations. I honestly think the Taoiseach is using his share of spurious smoke now to hinge his script on the issue of delaying the tribunal for five years. Nobody can believe that; it is complete transparent nonsense. I accept what the Taoiseach says. I presume he means by that as well that he has not delayed the transfer of any particular document or whatever in his possession. If he says that, it is fine.

The bigger issue is how the Taoiseach responds to what the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform described as issues of the utmost gravity. We are seeking, in this debate, to restore confidence in politics. That is a matter that ought to be of concern for every Member of this House, regardless of the side on which they hold a seat on behalf of the people. This debate is about restoring confidence in politics and re-establishing the great purpose of politics at a time when politics has been seriously damaged.

The first task of restoring confidence in politics is to establish that citizens are equal before the law. It is clear that our citizens were not equal before the tax law, whatever else might apply. For many years, our citizens believed that the purpose of Government was to make them equal before the tax law. They find now that instead of making them equal before the tax law, Government was indulging in the inequities of the tax law. Cabinet Ministers in the Government of which some here were members — the Ceann Comhairle will remember it — the Taoiseach, Mr. Burke, Mr. Lawlor and Mr. Flynn engaged in serious and substantial tax evasion. That is the biggest issue before us. For many years, when Members of this House raised issues related to disability or homelessness, to which Deputy Kenny referred, we were told that there was no crock of gold. That was the Ray MacSharry mantra which was taken up by his successors in this House. Now we know there was a crock of gold. In the past few years alone, €922 million has been retrieved as a result of the DIRT, NIB, Ansbacher and other inquiries.

We now find that transgressions were occurring at the highest level of Government. A Cabinet Minister sent his wife into their local bank to lodge £50,000 in a bogus non-resident account, saying that their address was in Chiswick, in London, and giving a big wink. A Revenue form was then signed. This is almost unbelievable but it is the reality of which we speak.

Last week the Labour Party proposed a motion on the question of emigrants, a subject dear to my heart. Anyone from my part of the country knows about the men in Britain who have fallen on hard times in recent years because they are no longer able to work in the building industry. Mr. Gilmartin was one of that generation but he did well. He was successful in Britain. He came back to Ireland at a time when we badly needed employment. He demonstrated great foresight in assembling a site at one of the most propitious junctions in Ireland. He was told that to have the land rezoned and his plans sanctioned he would have to pay Fianna Fáil. He said that every time he looked around somebody had his hand out, and he paid them. He said the Taoiseach asked him if he had made a donation and that he would deal with that matter in another venue. Despite paying them, Mr. Gilmartin was shafted and sent back to London with his tail between his legs while benefits were conferred on a rival developer. That is bad value for money on any basis, yet that is what happened.

I am prepared to accept that the Taoiseach has co-operated with the tribunal but restoration of confidence in politics requires him to do more than that. It is not enough, when something like this comes out, for Fianna Fáil to ring the wagons, engage in the timeworn strategy of muddying the waters and exclaim, "They are all at it, and if not it is because they do not have the opportunity and if they had the opportunity they would be at it too."

A few weeks before Christmas I listened here to the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, who spent 20 minutes trying to draw a relationship between Deputy Cuffe's temporary embarrassment, for which he bore no responsibility, and the transgressions of Burke, Haughey, Lawlor and so on. The fact that the Minister, or whoever wrote his script, did so amusingly does not take away from what he tried to do. The style is to muddy the waters and claim they are all at it. Fianna Fáil knows it is in this up to its necks and the only way to survive the tribunal era is by muddying the waters.

The Taoiseach's response to this situation is not sufficient. He is required to deal with the circumstances as he knows them. Is the Taoiseach saying that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform did not tell him of the matters he regards as of the utmost gravity? Is he saying the Minister went to The Sunday Tribune only when this story broke to protect himself and the Progressive Democrats and to say this was a matter of the utmost gravity? During Leaders' Questions, the Taoiseach replied to my question about the cheque but not to my question about tax evasion. It was with regard to tax evasion that the Minister, Deputy McDowell, said this was a matter of the utmost gravity and not with regard to the donation of £50,000 to Fianna Fáil or whoever — someone suggested the donation might have been made to Johnny Cash. When I was raised in Mayo there was a very admirable family of Travellers called Cash. Maybe the cheque was made out to them.

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