Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I do not care who had the water and who had the wine but I want to ask about another anniversary this year. We had the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising, where the Taoiseach took the salute in O'Connell Street, a very happy day for him. It was also the 90th anniversary of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916. The Taoiseach mentioned earlier that he is doing away with much of the pre-Independence legislation but, fortunately, in 1928, Dáil Éireann updated that law and it was in force in 1993 and still is today.

Last week I asked the Taoiseach to choose a course of action — to resign, to go to the country or to clean up politics. Today he might try to say he has taken the last option. This minimal face saving exercise with the Tánaiste, who appears to have regained Government but lost most of his party, is nothing more than that. It is a face saving exercise but does it comply with the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916, which outlawed the giving or acceptance of any money, gift or consideration by and from anyone seeking a contract with the State. The Act assumes that such gifts are corrupt unless the contrary is proven. Can the Taoiseach assure the House that none of the individuals who attended the dinner in Manchester and none of the individuals who contributed to his whip-arounds were seeking Government contracts in the early 1990s?

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