Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Does the Tánaiste have any idea how people lying on trolleys or looking at water charge bills on mats feel as they hear the revelations about the sale of Siteserv? The Tánaiste does herself and her party no favours by the swaggering attitude she has displayed over the past half an hour. Can she try to focus on answering some of the questions put by the Opposition? The last time I used a literary term during Leaders' Questions, it caused the Tánaiste and Fine Gael some confusion. If these events showed up in the plot of a Franz Kafka novel, they would be considered over the top and too surreal. Even by the extremely low standards of crony capitalism in Ireland, this is scraping the barrel. These deals are incredible. As the leader of the Labour Party and the so-called watchdog in the Government, I ask the Tánaiste to address herself to why these happened under her watch and why we have not heard a peep from her all about them.

That a man investigated by a State tribunal, which I assume the Tánaiste respects, a man we would think would be kept at arm's length from the Government and a man investigated following the awarding by a Fine Gael-led Government of a mobile phone licence, which is a licence to print money given that a five year old child could make money from a mobile phone licence, can end up acquiring a second company through any means is amazing and should be investigated. In the circumstances that have arisen, the Tánaiste should be demanding answers and not coming in here obfuscating and avoiding questions, never mind the fact there were other bidders and other issues into which I will go. The second company, which ends up into the hands of Denis O'Brien through GMC-Sierra, could also become another licence to print money if - this is a very big "if" - the Government can badger and bully the Irish people into paying water charges. That is worthy of investigation.

The secret sale of the company has been raised in the House for years and on numerous occasions. Deputy Catherine Murphy has done us all a huge service and I commend her on her work. She and other Deputies raised it with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. I raised it during Leaders' Questions and I had my microphone switched off. I hope it will not happen today. Denis O'Brien is so well connected to Fine Gael and owns such large swathes of the media that it has taken us this long to get this far.

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