Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

There was chaos and contradictions, and now there is cowardice. That is the sum total of this Government's assault on the Mahon tribunal. For the past year or more, Fianna Fáil Ministers have relentlessly attacked the tribunal. One Minister after another has come out to attack it. One Minister after another has impugned its integrity. One complaint after another has been made in an effort to distract from the chaos of the Taoiseach's evidence. Let me be absolutely clear, particularly when addressing the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan — I am not referring to the chaos of the Taoiseach's personal finances. Rather, I am referring to the chaos of his evidence. One day, black is white. The next day, the suggestion is that he never stated black was white and that he meant black was pink. In the context of the coalition Government, black is green with a tinge of blue, the Progressive Democrats.

Chaos is a great distraction from truth. The Taoiseach is a past master at creating chaos. Around the inescapable contradiction, he blames the passage of time, the media and the tribunal. Out come his Ministers, such as the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, in support of the unsupportable. Out come his Ministers cloaking their protection of their leader by discussing the cost of the lawyers, about which they failed to do anything and in respect of whose fees they agreed originally, or the time taken by the tribunal. They do not discuss whether witnesses such as Ray Burke, Liam Lawlor, Frank Dunlop or the Taoiseach himself spoke honestly in private or public session at or in correspondence with the tribunal. If they spoke honestly when asked the relevant questions, the tribunal would have concluded years ago.

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