Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to speak to the motion. I have known the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, for the best part of 20 years and made a judgment call on him 20 years ago. I believed him to be a fresh wind blowing through our political party. I viewed him as being a distinctly different person and character to the people who had gone before him. For that reason, I chose to join Fianna Fáil, to become active in politics and put my name before the public for election in the general election of 1997. I formed that judgment of the Taoiseach 20 years ago and I am delighted to say to the House my character judgment of him has been vindicated. I venture to say he has exceeded the expectations of almost everybody who supported him 20 years ago and particularly in the past ten years. Nobody expected when he became leader of our party that he would do the enormous things he has done. It is not an exaggeration to state, as Deputy Mansergh did, that he is the most significant Taoiseach and leader this country has had since independence. In co-operation with coalition parties not of the same political persuasion, he has created an undoubted atmosphere of peace and prosperity which is unrivalled and the envy of many other countries. The former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair; the former US President, Bill Clinton; and Reverend Ian Paisley have spoken volubly about the character, commitment, ability and talent of the Taoiseach in bringing people together and nurturing peace and prosperity. That is why the Opposition is annoyed and we have a panicky no confidence motion. It is panicky because the Opposition failed to impress the electorate when these issues emerged last October and during the maelstrom of the recent general election. It is clear the Opposition wanted to raise the issues then but was fearful of doing so. It simply did not have the nerve.

Deputy Brian Hayes was honest enough to admit there may be a competency issue at the heart of the Opposition. It made a mess of these matters and did not raise them effectively. No one within or outside the House can claim that the substance of the issues of which the Taoiseach stands accused was not raised over four weeks last October or in the most transparent way possible, namely, during the general election campaign. From October last year onwards the public willingly gave its increased support to Fianna Fáil and the Taoiseach in the full knowledge of what happened during his marital breakdown in 1993. No Member can claim the public did not know then what it now knows from the evidence before the tribunal.

We have an incompetent Opposition which remains panicky about facing 15 arid years in opposition. This is because of its incompetence and the confidence the people have placed in the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern. The people attribute honesty and trust to him in how he conducts his personal and political affairs. That is the electorate's judgment call. The public had ample opportunity to examine, in detail, every aspect of the Taoiseach's finances since October 2006. It, like me 20 years ago, made a judgment call on this man and decided he is an honest man. The Opposition parties are arrogant. Are they suggesting the public was mistaken and should have elected Fine Gael and the Labour Party to be the next Government? At least Deputy Pat Rabbitte had the nobility to acknowledge he failed and resigned as party leader.

His successor, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, chooses to lecture us about finances and the receipt of moneys. Yet, he is the direct beneficiary of massive amounts of moneys from the most barbarous regime ever invented, that which obtained in Soviet Russia. This matter has never been explored and Deputy Gilmore has never been transparent about it. He is also the leader who boasted that when he left the Workers' Party, he destroyed all records related to his time in that party by burning them in his back garden. If Deputy Bertie Ahern did that to his records, he would have to resign as Taoiseach. If he claimed he could not furnish the tribunal with all the details of his personal finances and his marital breakdown settlement, people would ask serious questions. If that were the case, I do not believe he would be in the Chamber this evening answering honestly and openly to every question put to him about this terrible period in his life.

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