Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment Deputy Catherine Murphy on the diligence and professionalism with which she went about her work as a parliamentarian. She has shone a light into an area of immense public importance and interest, and has brought us to the juncture we are at today with the establishment of a commission of investigation.

I also wish to acknowledge my own party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, for the absolute support he gave across the public airwaves when there was abject silence from the Taoiseach and members of the Government. A chilling effect took place right across our media in terms of reporting the comments that Deputy Catherine Murphy made in this House. Deputy Martin stood up for the right of parliamentary democracy and must be acknowledged and complimented on that.

It is ironic that Deputies Micheál Martin and Catherine Murphy shared one aspect in common over the last days, which I found particularly disdainful, namely, the sustained and personalised attack they both faced from Denis O'Brien's proxy in the form of his spokesperson, James Morrissey. Deputy Catherine Murphy spoke earlier about what Mr. Morrissey said about her and how he set about trying to discredit her. What really struck me was the public comments which people made to me following the debate on the Claire Byrne radio programme between Mr. Morrissey and Micheál Martin. The vitriolic and personal attack that Mr. Morrissey made on my party leader was quite telling. It was just another example of Denis O'Brien trying to bludgeon my party leader and, by extension, our party into silence. Fortunately, he was not successful in that regard.

The problem the Fine Gael Party will not face up to is that Denis O'Brien is the elephant in the kitchen of this Government. Only a few weeks ago, Government Deputies ridiculed our Private Members' motion.

Back in the 1990s we had the awarding of the Esat licence to Denis O'Brien. We had a tribunal of inquiry and many of the actors who sat at Cabinet back then are at the Cabinet table today. Where is the Moriarty report? We are hearing nothing about it. It took the Taoiseach months to admit publicly that he accepted the findings of the Moriarty tribunal. Is it with the DPP, the Garda or Revenue? The public is entitled to know.

Rolling the clock forward to today, we have a major problem in respect of media ownership. The Government is not prepared to face up to Denis O'Brien. We have just heard the comments about what Leslie Buckley said at the annual general meeting. The product of all this is the significant chilling effect which is evident right across the media. Journalists were afraid to report what Deputy Catherine Murphy said when there is absolute privilege in this House. Proof of the chilling effect is what happened to Sam Smyth or Dr. Elaine Byrne, for example. An outstanding academic who has researched the areas of transparency and corruption, she is the subject of Denis O'Brien's legal threats. Up to 24 legal threats have been handed out over the last weeks and months, we are told. That is the issue and the public is right to be concerned.

When people look at Moriarty and Esat, at media ownership and domination and the chilling effect, and at the carry-on with Siteserv, which equals Irish Water and that whole debacle, they are right to ask questions. When we ask legitimate questions in this Parliament, we are ridiculed and told we are not entitled to ask questions on behalf of the public, yet out on the street every single day of the week, people are talking about Denis O'Brien and his undue influence on society and the running of the country. We have to face up to that.

I welcome the fact that a commission of investigation is being established. It is high time we had an independent inquiry into this affair. The issues about Denis O'Brien and his influence are now beginning to bubble to the top as a by-product of this debate and I welcome that also. We need to examine his dominance and the chilling effect on the media. If we do not have diversification within the media, they will be failing in their duty to hold the Government, in particular, to account.

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