Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Will the Taoiseach indicate what is holding up the NIB inspectors' report? I understand it has been finished for some time. Why is it not being put into the public domain?

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform who feels an unending compulsion to address the great issues of our time. The Taoiseach is now saying that in addition to that obligation, the Minister has been going around weighed down by the knowledge of this tax evasion for more than a year and never shared it with anyone. Did the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform ever bring this knowledge to the Taoiseach's attention or is he saying that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was seized of this knowledge and kept it to himself? I cannot reconcile that with the Deputy Michael McDowell I know. He would not have done that. If Deputy McDowell shared that knowledge with the Taoiseach, what action did he take arising from it?

I refer the Taoiseach to the Official Report, to which he also referred, of 1999 where he categorically denied that he had ever asked Tom Gilmartin for the financial contribution, either for himself or for Fianna Fáil. He also denied, equally carefully and explicitly, that he had ever asked Tom Gilmartin about a specific contribution of £50,000. Will the Taoiseach answer the question today? Did he ever at any stage ask Mr. Gilmartin in any terms if he had made a contribution of any kind to Fianna Fáil?

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