Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

This controversy is not over. The Taoiseach has sacked Deputy Cowen to try to draw a line under it and he is spinning furiously about what he knew in an attempt to evade responsibility. However, the essence of the matter is very clear and it will come out. The Taoiseach colluded with the then Minister to keep vital information from the Dáil. They relied on legal threats to keep that vital information from the media. If it was not for The Sunday Timespublishing the article, including the reference to the Garda report last Sunday, the Taoiseach would never have asked Deputy Cowen to answer questions before the Dáil and nobody would be any the wiser.

Earlier, the Taoiseach told the Dáil that Ministers should come before the House to answer questions of public interest. However, the Taoiseach's Government voted twice - on 7 July and yesterday, 14 July - to shield the former Minister, Deputy Cowen, from facing those questions. The Taoiseach abused his majority to ensure he would not face questions and would come in and make a statement and waltz out again without facing any questions. The Taoiseach was backed in that by the Labour Party the first time around and by a number of Independents both times. Ironically, the Minister who now replaces Deputy Cowen was then in his role as Chief Whip, ensuring the questions would not be asked. The Taoiseach‘s statement today that Ministers should face questions is clearly disingenuous.

The Taoiseach relies very heavily on the fact he did not get a copy of the Garda report until Tuesday morning but he knew of its existence on 3 July. He was told about it by a journalist and he knew there was a reference in it to a serious incident about evading a Garda checkpoint. The Taoiseach tried to wriggle out of that by saying it was what a journalist told him and he did not know what was in the report. However, the point is he knew the significance of that at that time. Over the weekend of 4 and 5 July, he discussed the matter with Deputy Cowen and, as part of that discussion, it is clear from Deputy Cowen’s statement that he discussed this Garda report. The Taoiseach knew the significance of this report. He discussed it and together they agreed that when Deputy Cowen made a statement to the Dáil on 7 July, he would not tell the Dáil about it. They agreed he would speak about having a full and frank disclosure and about avoiding a damaging drip feed of information and yet Deputy Cowen chose, with the agreement of the Taoiseach, not to put this vital information into the public domain. From the absence of the Tánaiste from the Chamber and the repeated failure of the Taoiseach to answer point-blank questions about whether he told the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, it seems extremely likely that he chose not to tell his coalition partners about it.

Is it not the case that the Taoiseach relied on legal threats to gag the media? He agreed with Deputy Cowen that, in making his full statement on 7 July, he would not tell the Dáil about the existence of this Garda report and the reference to evading the checkpoint because the Taoiseach and Deputy Cowen thought at that point that the legal threats had done their job. They thought the media would not publish and they would be able to move on. If The Sunday Timeshad not published that story last Sunday, is it not the case that the Taoiseach would not have asked Deputy Cowen to answer questions in the Dáil and there will be no question of accountability?

What we have in this absolute dumpster fire of two and a half weeks of a Government is a clear display of the culture of Fianna Fáil. It is a party that is about power and not about ideology. The squabbling between different backbench Members over who should get what junior or senior ministerial jobs at a time when one in four people is unemployed and then this consistent attempt to avoid accountability, which is continuing right now from the Taoiseach, remind people correctly of everything that Fianna Fáil is about and it is tainting correctly the Green Party and Fine Gael as long as they stand beside Fianna Fáil.

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