Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach said it was €100,00 the last day, another major change. He came down the steps today with his Tánaiste beside him with a laughable, cobbled together, face saving legislative solution to a problem that ought not require legislation in the first place. The Sunday Tribune showed last week that the Taoiseach was very good at raising money for political purposes in his constituency, he is perfectly legally entitled to do so and no one prevented him from doing so. This, however, is about the use of money for private purposes.

The Taoiseach came in today with this cobbled together solution that gets the Tánaiste off the hook. If he is so interested in amending the Ethics in Public Office Act, why does he not introduce the amendment sought by the Standards in Public Offices Commission when it asked for the right to initiate investigations into this kind of thing? Why does the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform concede that in the legislation he wrapped around himself? When I said yesterday he would settle for a fig leaf, I did not think he would settle for one so miserable as this but apparently it is enough for him.

What information was he given over the weekend? What was it about? Did Micheál Wall eat the dinner after all? What is the new information? It is an insult to this House for the Tánaiste to now emerge blinking into the light of day and pretend none of this happened and he is mesmerised as to why the entire news media were reporting that the Government was on the brink, would be sundered, the PDs could not live with it and all the rest. It appears the PDs can live with anything after this. We have not got the answers the Tánaiste said he wanted and, in so far as the Taoiseach is giving answers, they are changing from day to day.

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