Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

In the report published today by the ESRI, there was a focus on a number of different areas of waste. One that was not mentioned, however, was the indemnity deal that we traced in this House on quite a few occasions in the past. The Taoiseach will recall this was a secret deal that gave indemnity to an entire array of contingent liabilities without ceiling. He will also recall that the State was bound to pay for the outcome. Notwithstanding the recommendation from the Department of Finance that it would be on the basis of a 50-50 break between the religious congregations and the State, the Government went ahead and ratified the deal in a most unusual fashion.

On several occasions in this House when I quoted figures advanced by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Taoiseach used one of his favourite phrases saying that I was off the wall. In September 2003, I questioned whether figures from the Comptroller and Auditor General, ranging from €869 million to €1.04 billion, were correct. In reply, the Taoiseach said: "Our view continues to be that it will not be anything like what the eminent Comptroller has said." The Taoiseach repeated that line several times in the House. The 2005 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General was published recently and showed that the cost of the indemnity deal is now estimated to be €1.327 billion. How can the Taoiseach possibly justify the secret deal that was done without a memorandum to Cabinet, based on a verbal presentation by a Minister who was to leave office the following day, excluding the usual professional advice from the Attorney General's office, and without sight of the agreement? A deal was entered into that capped the contribution of the religious congregations at £100 million or €127 million.

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