Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I am not accustomed to the Ceann Comhairle berating me into speaking, but in the circumstances and now that the Chair has called me I will try to think of something to say. I certainly do not know under what Standing Order the Chair has made this decision.

I take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to the Tánaiste on his appointment and to wish him well. Any morning one wakes up to hear that a hit man has been executed, a house sprayed with bullets, a garda wounded and €10 million of drugs landed at a private airport, it is clear that the Tánaiste needs all the assistance we can offer him on this side of House.

Will the Tánaiste spell out what he meant on radio when he said that Dáil Éireann would have an opportunity to discuss the controversy that has grown up around the Taoiseach's acceptance of a large sum of money for private use? This morning his deputy leader, Deputy O'Donnell, said she looked forward to the matter being ventilated adequately in the House. Will the Tánaiste indicate what provision he intends to make to allow the House to have the question and answer session that Deputy O'Donnell offered on radio this morning? We did not have such a session yesterday and it is important that we dispose of it.

Is there any particular reason the Tánaiste did not refer to the Manchester money in his statement? Will he cause any action to be taken to establish whether the Revenue Commissioners gave clearance to the payments involved? Are we now in a situation where the Tánaiste's party is giving only qualified support to the Government? Am I correct in interpreting his statement as meaning that the payments in question were manifestly a gift and not repayable loans? Are we in a position where this morning Deputy O'Donnell seemed to be qualifying even the qualified support for Government? Will the Tánaiste ensure that this House will have an opportunity to probe these issues satisfactorily so that Dáil Éireann can discharge its responsibility to hold the Government accountable?

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