Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This debate is taking place in the particular context of this country's history of corruption and the dodgy dealing that is a feature of the way much business is practised here. Clearly, this results from failings in corporate governance and significant shortcomings in political probity and oversight. If anybody doubts that, I would refer them back to the reports of the beef tribunal, the planning tribunal and the Moriarty tribunal. It is worth reminding ourselves of some of the most pertinent quotes from the Moriarty tribunal. It is most appropriate in the current circumstances to note that the tribunal found it was "beyond doubt" that Deputy Michael Lowry "imparted substantive information" to Denis O’Brien which was "of significant value and assistance to him in securing the licence". Given that the person who assisted Denis O'Brien, according to the Moriarty tribunal, was a party and Cabinet colleague of the current Minister for Finance, that puts a particular responsibility on the Minister, Deputy Noonan, to act on foot of the findings of the tribunal. Fifteen years later, with some €50 million having been spent, the tribunal found that significant "clandestine" money transfers and "corrupt" payments were made.

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One would imagine in the circumstances, given that this happened on the Minister’s and his party’s watch, he would be very keen to deal appropriately with it and that swift action would be taken on foot of Moriarty’s many recommendations. When he received the report in March 2011, the Taoiseach promised us all that it would not gather dust. That is why it is really disappointing but maybe not surprising that the Minister for Justice and Equality, in her reply to a parliamentary question from me last month on the progress made in implementing Moriarty’s recommendations, said that the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005 awaits Report Stage in the Dáil. When I queried that further the Minister told me the tribunals Bill was under consideration in her Department. Detailed consideration is being given to “the full suites of recommendations” etc. She went on to say:

The review will be completed as soon as possible, but is dependent on other legislative priorities. Accordingly, the likely timeframe cannot be indicated with any certainty at this point.

I can also advise the Deputy that following the examination by An Garda Síochána of the report of Moriarty Tribunal, the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution [sic] was sought with a view to determining whether or not a full Garda investigation should be commenced. This advice is awaited.

Four years later there is no sense of urgency whatsoever in respect of implementing the report that the Taoiseach promised us would not gather dust. It is quite clear that it is gathering dust and there is no political will to tackle it.

I want to raise the role of the Minister for Finance in this entire debacle. No Minister should enjoy political immunity, least of all the most important Minister in the Cabinet. That is exactly what the Taoiseach has afforded the Minister for Finance. He has sailed through a litany of mistakes on the Siteserv issue while the Taoiseach stands idly by. The Minister did not provide full answers to questions from Deputy Catherine Murphy and created an impression which simply was not true. He has been extremely disingenuous in the manner in which he has responded to concerns raised by Deputy Murphy and indeed the public concern that has ensued.

It is only because of Deputy Murphy’s tenacity and the resultant public concern that any action has been taken on this. It seems the Minister would have been quite happy to bury the whole issue if Deputy Murphy had not made the freedom of information requests. We should remind the Minister of the words of Mr. Justice Hamilton in the beef tribunal when he said that if questions had been answered properly in the Dáil there would not have been a need for a tribunal. It seems no lessons were learnt from the past and history, unfortunately, is repeating itself. The Minister casually accepted the word of an ex-party and ex-Cabinet colleague, Alan Dukes, and his colleague, Mike Aynsley, when senior officials in the Department of Finance raised serious concerns about poor management in IBRC. Over a protracted period senior officials raised serious concerns with the Minister about poor management in IBRC and the Minister went to the management and accepted its word for it. One would imagine, given the history of the behaviour of the then Minister, Deputy Lowry, and the involvement of the Fine Gael Party in that regard, that this Fine Gael-led Government would have been particularly careful and anxious to ensure that everything was above board and conducted properly. Yet again, he accepts the word of an ex-colleague.

The Minister tried to fob us all off and make out that some kind of internal review run by the very insider involved in this, the special liquidator, whose company had been involved in the sale of Siteserv, would suffice. If it was not so serious it would be laughable. The Minister also refused to establish a commission of investigation up to the point where that position became completely untenable. That is the only reason we are now having this commission of investigation. It was nothing to do with judgment or this Government doing the right thing. It was because it got to the point where it had no choice but to do the right thing. The Minister gave incorrect information to the Dáil on the key IBRC board meetings where the decision was taken on the Siteserv sale while board papers mysteriously appeared just last week.

As Minister for Finance he has responsibility for oversight of the spending of public money and that leaves a lot to be desired. Has the Taoiseach even asked for an apology from the Minister? Could he not have insisted on a commission of investigation from the very start if he was providing leadership from the front? Where is the ministerial score card? Does the Minister remember the Taoiseach talking about that? It is just as well he dropped that idea. I believe the Minister failed in respect of his duty to be accountable to the Dáil. He failed to provide accurate answers and through the inaccurate answers he provided he misrepresented the actual situation. I believe the Minister failed adequately to oversee the spending of public money and was therefore not doing his duty as Minister for Finance. The Government often boasts about its hard work to restore Ireland’s reputation internationally following the mess that Fianna Fáil made but this type of golden circle politics is straight out of the old Fianna Fáil handbook. The silence from the Labour Party is deafening.

The Minister’s performance is only the latest in a series of senior Cabinet Ministers failing in their responsibility, Phil Hogan, Deputies James Reilly and Alan Shatter, and now, Deputy Michael Noonan, all of whom have caused serious problems within their respective Departments and the other three certainly left big messes behind them. The Taoiseach seems to have set the bar so low that anything goes. This is a Taoiseach who is leading from the rear, not just in this whole debacle but on whistleblowers, the McNulty affair, the Shatter and Garda Commissioner affair and now Siteserv. A Taoiseach who leads from the rear does not lead at all. That is what is wrong with this Government.

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