Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and forgive me.

I cannot believe what I have just witnessed. The Minister of State has said he has no comment. Deputy Carthy hit the nail on the head. This has deviated from the pre-prepared script. Can the Minister of State not be his own person from his own party and deal with this issue?

Specific questions were put to the Minister of State. Where did this come from? Are we supposed to treat this Parliament in this way, whereby we are facilitating an amendment to legislation which is not even part of this Bill? The Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Act went through two years ago. If the Government wants to amend that, it should amend it properly and have a proper discussion on it. The Minister of State will not even give a response to very serious accusations, probably some of the most serious accusations and charges that have been levelled in this House in my time, and I have been here over a decade. It is baffling.

Deputy McAuliffe created a nice excuse to leave the Chamber because it is uncomfortable. Damned right it is uncomfortable. It is also uncomfortable for how we deal with democracy and how political parties are raising funds. The rules should apply equally to everybody. The same rules apply everywhere - we will play by those rules in this jurisdictions and other jurisdictions where we are in - but the fact is that Fianna Fáil broke those rules. No other political party in this House did so because it was illegal. It is unlawful.

This amendment is being rushed through. This is at the core of it. There is no way we can discuss this amendment without dealing with the Fianna Fáil issue because the rationale for this amendment is Fianna Fáil's unlawful raising of over €500,000.

Will the Minister of State satisfy himself as to how he is being used as a Minister of State? Will he tell this House where this amendment came from and the background to it? Will the Minister of State publish the communications and the correspondence? Will the Minister of State assure himself that Fianna Fáil had a licence in April for its June draw? Will the Minister of State satisfy himself about the conditions, particularly condition 10(f), which states that that money has to go to charity? It will probably be reported next month in its SIPO annual accounts signed by the party's trustee, the Taoiseach, that it is in the party coffers and that it did not go to charity. Will the Minister of State do any of that or will he merely tell us, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?" Deputy Noonan is the Minister of State.

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