Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

It would be churlish not to congratulate Deputies Brian Lenihan, Gormley and Eamon Ryan on their elevation to the Cabinet. These are decent and fair-minded people and I wish them well in their jobs.

I take issue with Deputy Sargent on the Taoiseach's finances. He questioned this before the election but after the election we heard reports from the Mahon tribunal that disputed the explanation provided by the Taoiseach during the election. I refer to the explanation the then Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats said had resolved everything; that there were no dollar dealings. That evidence has proved since to be threadbare. It appears that Deputy Sargent has done nothing to challenge that. He asked his questions when it did not matter.

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