Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The judge rightly stated that the tribunal was established in 1997 and that the concept behind the tribunal is that there be an inquiry into definite matters as a matter of urgent public importance. The fact that the tribunal is still inquiring ten years later is the antithesis of an urgent public inquiry. There are all kinds of reasons for that, but fundamental to it is the requirement of the Oireachtas.

There are people here and in the other House who, from what they have stated, require of the tribunal heads on plates. They do not really require or expect — certainly they do not want — facts, findings and recommendations as set out by the Oireachtas. Ultimately, that is what the Oireachtas charged this tribunal with doing. The Oireachtas, as the body which set it up, has every right — in my view, every duty — to comment on how it is done, but it is of course entirely unjust if Members of the Government are accused of undermining the tribunal when people equally undermine the tribunal by setting out a stall which clearly demands of it findings of fact which advance a particular political perspective. That is something that this House, and no Member of it, is entitled to demand or expect. It is a fundamental question and one to which we all are obliged to face up.

No doubt there are concerns in the public arena about issues such as cost, there are concerns about issues related to the treatment of people and there are all kinds of other ancillary issues. Ultimately, the long-term goal of this inquiry is relatively narrow and relatively straightforward, and it is perfectly reasonable to hold the view that what it was set up to do is what this Parliament requires it to do.

When one sees muddying of the waters with issues about passports — I, like most Members, have assisted people in getting passports — dragged in, one inevitably makes the judgment that the tribunal issue is part of another political agenda. There is no fundamental issue with parties and people having political agendas, but when they pretend and seek to put them in the respectable context of a tribunal and they are merely political point-scoring, of course they are open to being criticised on that front.

The point made by Deputy Mary White and many others is of singular importance. The key point she made is that no Member of the Oireachtas, who is interested and committed to this tribunal or, indeed, any tribunal doing the job that it was set up to do, could object to any element of the Government amendment. I would say that they would be duty bound to go with the terms of the amendment in the width and depth of what is required of the tribunal and in the expectation, rightly, of this Parliament that the job that it was set up to do is the one that it does.

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