Dáil debates

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

Banking Crisis: Motion (Resumed)

 

8:00 pm

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

It is outrageous to think that Fianna Fáil could mobilise weird decisions and interpretations of a Supreme Court judgment to justify the Minister's decisions.

I recall when the corruption of the beef scandal, which was closely associated with Fianna Fáil activists and others, was uncovered by the media in 1989. Demands for a tribunal of inquiry were vigorously resisted. The then Minister for Agriculture and Food, Michael O'Kennedy, was on his feet where the Minister for Finance now sits to explain why an inquiry would not take place. However, a very courageous minority leader in the coalition Government of the day, Mr. Des O'Malley, warned the then Taoiseach that he would leave Government if an inquiry did not take place. Over the weekend, a would-be courageous leader of the Green Party who has exactly the same leverage called for an open inquiry which would be conducted by the Oireachtas and accountable to the citizens of this State, yet he does not have the courage to enter this Chamber. The Green Party has rolled over on the matter. What was promised by Senator Boyle through the media over the weekend and articulated with great passion and conviction by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has simply been swept aside.

We all know that the glue which holds Fianna Fáil together is its everlasting desire for power. The Taoiseach would no doubt have responded in exactly the same way as Deputy Bertie Ahern and Charlie Haughey. If the Green Party really has the courage of its convictions, the Minister for Finance would be announcing the same U-turn as his predecessor, Mr. O'Kennedy, made in regard to the beef tribunal. Sadly, we have the Minister, Deputy Gormley, rather than Des O'Malley.

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