Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

It is important to remind the House of the wording of the Fine Gael motion given the comments of previous speakers. It states: "That Dáil Éireann reaffirms its confidence in the Mahon tribunal, and its belief that the tribunal is acting independently, without bias and within the remit contained in the terms of reference set by the Oireachtas." One would have a right to assume that this should not be a contentious motion. In truth, it probably would not have been in any period over the last ten years until now, when the Taoiseach is giving evidence and must answer straight questions about his financial affairs in the mid-1990s.

People have correctly asked why Dáil Éireann is spending its first week of the 2008 session debating the Mahon tribunal and not addressing issues that affect people's everyday lives. God knows there are plenty of such issues at present. However, this motion is necessary because of a concerted effort by a series of Government Ministers to undermine and discredit the work of the tribunal. They were marched out before Christmas to express a phony outrage at how the Mahon tribunal was conducting its business. They included our most powerful and experienced politicians. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, said he was astounded by what the tribunal was doing. The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Séamus Brennan, supported him and complained of a lack of fairness. The Minister of State, Deputy Dick Roche, accused the tribunal lawyers of being petty, personal and provocative and of asking questions that were quite unacceptable. He referred to unfair procedures that were unacceptable in civilised society, appalling treatment and accused the tribunal of badgering the Taoiseach.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, was almost embarrassed by some of the comments of his colleagues. I have some admiration for him for having the courage to say that he believed his colleagues were motivated by political loyalty. That is the Fianna Fáil world — political loyalty above all else and as long as they are not caught, they can do as they wish. These were not random, unco-ordinated responses by individuals with a genuine concern for fairness or balance. This was a co-ordinated effort organised by the Government press secretary, whose function is to be a spokesperson for the Taoiseach, to divert attention away from the detail of the Taoiseach's evidence to the tribunal and to focus attention on the functioning and other aspects of tribunal activity, such as the cost.

The political motivation was clear. Everybody in Government was uncomfortable discussing the Taoiseach's explanations for the origin of private donations to him in the 1990s. That was understandable. The strategy was, therefore, that attack was the best form of defence. The whispering campaign around Leinster House was that it was all the tribunal's fault, overpaid lawyers were being paid a fortune in taxpayers' money, the tribunal was too expensive, it should move more quickly and it no longer represented value for money. It was suggested that it might be time to shut it down and end the costly circus once and for all. We heard the same last night from the Minister for Defence, Deputy Willie O'Dea. He said he and others were raising legitimate questions. It is no coincidence that he happened to be raising legitimate questions at the same time that tribunal lawyers were asking legitimate questions of the Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and questioning the credibility of his evidence to the tribunal.

People are sick of this type of politics: the cute hoorism, diversionary tactics to divert attention away from finding the truth and the politics of party loyalty over-riding what is in the public interest. Members of the House will wonder and scoff at the headline in today's Irish Examiner: "Government overtakes Church as our least trusted institution". The article states that a mere 35% of so-called educated high earners said they trusted the Taoiseach and the Government to do the right thing. That is why this motion from Fine Gael is justified, despite all the other issues that need attention. We would not be an Opposition worth its salt if we did not confront the hypocrisy of Ministers attacking a tribunal that they set up, questioning the costs of which they approved and questioning the delays to which their party members, including their leader and our Taoiseach, contributed. If the tribunal had got straight answers when it asked for them, it would be over by now and its costs would be far less than they are. That is why this motion is important. We have been forced to reaffirm our confidence in the efforts and mandate of the Mahon tribunal, which is trying to get to the truth about the issues under investigation in an unbiased way, within its remit. We will not allow clever political manoeuvring or bullying to knock the tribunal off its course. The tribunal process has been expensive and it has taken far longer than initially envisaged to get to the bottom of the inquiry. Our priority should be to get accuracy and truth. While we would all like matters to be finalised as speedily as possible and to reduce the tribunal's expenses as much as possible, it is more important to ensure that the tribunal has an opportunity to establish the facts.

The Taoiseach has been called to the tribunal to answer the accusation that he took donations from Mr. Owen O'Callaghan, but he has not yet answered those questions. Fianna Fáil always argues that the manner in which the Taoiseach is being questioned has no relationship with that fundamental issue. That is not so. The tribunal has always followed the money trail when it has been dealing with those who have appeared before its hearings. It has always tried to examine bank accounts and asked for explanations of where certain account entries came from. The explanation that has been offered in the case of the Taoiseach is simply not credible, unfortunately. That is why almost everyone who discusses this case in family homes and pubs believes it is unreasonable to expect Opposition politicians not to raise legitimate questions about the credibility of the Taoiseach's evidence.

New evidence emerged last night, in the context of payments which were made in 1994, about the Taoiseach's relationship with Mr. Norman Turner, a Manchester-based developer who was hoping to invest in a large casino development in the Phoenix Park. The Taoiseach went to two Manchester United matches with Mr. Turner in 1993 and 1994. Although Mr. Turner made a donation of $10,000 to Fianna Fáil through Mr. Des Richardson, that figure never appeared in any Fianna Fáil accounts. Given that we know the Taoiseach organised a passport for Mr. Turner on 9 August 1994, is it not legitimate to ask whether it is more than a coincidence that the Taoiseach lodged £20,000 on 8 August 1994, the day before the passport was issued? Is it not legitimate to question the fact that the Taoiseach lodged the equivalent of £25,000 sterling — exactly — on 11 October 1994? Is it not legitimate to ask questions about the Taoiseach's lodgment of the exact equivalent of $45,000 on 5 December 1994? The lodgments were made at a time when the current Taoiseach, as the Minister for Finance of the time, was being lobbied by somebody with whom he had attended football matches, and for whom he had organised a passport, to allow a casino to be developed in the Phoenix Park.

I would like to respond to the comments of the Green Party Deputies and to reflect on the absence of the Progressive Democrats Deputies throughout this debate. The Green Party chose to lecture Fine Gael on its record. I will not stand up in here and say Fine Gael is without sin in terms of payments to politicians, as it is not without sin. Fine Gael is a big party. We have a job to do to ensure we move things forward in our party in the right manner. We will do that, but we will also hold the Government to account. The Green Party is trying to lecture my party on corporate donations, while doing nothing about the receipt of such donations by its partners in government, but we will not take that kind of hypocrisy from them. The Green Party, which spent years on this side of the House jumping up and down about issues of this nature, is now in government. It is in a position to wield influence, but it is choosing not to do so. It used to come in here to say the right thing when it was easy for its Members to say the right thing. In recent times, however, when Fianna Fáil Ministers have gone on the plinth to undermine and attack the tribunal, the Green Party has chosen to be silent. Green Party Deputies have said during this debate that they support the tribunal and that it should be allowed to get on with its business. They said nothing when their Cabinet colleagues attacked the tribunal, however. That is hypocrisy. We will not take a lecture from the Green Party when it is acting in such a hypocritical manner.

The Progressive Democrats once offered hope to many people in this country. I say to its representatives, as a young politician in another European country once said to Tony Blair, "you were the future once". The Progressive Democrats Deputies are so spineless that they will not come to the House to speak on this motion.

See this speech in context