Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The delay in setting up committees is completely on the Government side. We have been waiting months for the Government to bring forward proposals to establish committees. It must bring forward those proposals to the Dáil reform committee for committees to be established. It should have been done months ago. We have been asking for this be done for this to be done. There is no excuse for delays. To be very clear, last week at the Business Committee the Social Democrats asked for time this week to debate tariffs. That was not agreed and it was voted down again on the Order of Business today. This week in the Dáil we should be putting in time on the key issue of tariffs and Ireland's response.

This is the first time in the history of the State that the Dáil has debated a confidence motion in the Ceann Comhairle. I regret that this unprecedented motion is taking place today. We have been led to this impasse by a Government intent on bulldozing democratic norms to get a grubby deal with a corrupt politician over the line. This is the essence of why we are here.

Last Tuesday as the Dáil descended into chaos one person sat there smiling and laughing. Michael Lowry was triumphant and why would he not be. He got exactly what he wanted. He got one of his group elected as Ceann Comhairle. He got another four appointed as junior Ministers, including two super juniors. He secured Opposition leader speaking rights. He got influence over how public money in the national development plan and the HSE capital plan will be allocated. All of this for a politician who was found by the Moriarty tribunal to be "profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking".

Those on the Government benches would clearly prefer to forget the findings of the Moriarty tribunal but they bear repeating. It found that Lowry, then Minister for communications, delivered the State's second mobile phone licence for the businessman Denis O'Brien. It said that O'Brien later sought to confer material benefit on Lowry. It also found that O'Brien transferred £477,000 to various Lowry controlled accounts and supported Lowry in obtaining a £420,000 bank loan. Lowry also tried to use his influence to double the rental value of a building part-owned by businessman Ben Dunne. The building was leased to the then State-owned Telecom Éireann. In effect, the Minister of the day was attempting to gouge a State company he oversaw. If this attempt had succeeded it would have doubled the value of Dunne's building from £5.4 million to £12.75 million, which would be a nice little earner. There was also the £34,500 that Lowry pocketed which had been designated by Dunne's as Christmas bonuses for his workers. Judge Michael Moriarty said this was one of Lowry's "most reprehensible" actions.

Lowry does not like the findings of the tribunal being reported and discussed. He personally sued journalist Sam Smyth for defamation for stating that Lowry had been "caught with his hand in the till". This action was notable because Lowry declined to sue the media organisations that published the comments and instead went after Smyth alone in a vindictive attempt to ruin the journalist whose reporting had first revealed his dodgy dealings. Ultimately this attempt failed with the High Court reiterating Lowry's documented tax fraud and the dig outs he received from business friends.

Nearly 14 years ago exactly, on the 29 March 2011, Micheál Martin told the Dáil that Fianna Fáil accepted the Moriarty tribunal findings. Back then he called on Michael Lowry to resign his Dáil seat. Today Micheál Martin and Simon Harris are part of the re-establishment of Michael Lowry, putting him at the heart of their Government and bending over backwards to make him happy. Those are the facts.

It did not have to be like this. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael should have shown Michael Lowry the door. Instead, within weeks of the election, they identified Lowry as their preferred coalition partner. The first manifestation of this was the election of the Ceann Comhairle on 18 December. The office of Ceann Comhairle should never have been gifted as part of this deal. It undermined years of Dáil reform and opened up the office to charges of bias. The introduction of the secret ballot was to ensure the office of Ceann Comhairle would be truly independent. It was also to ensure that the Ceann Comhairle had the confidence of both the Government and the Opposition. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, however, did not hesitate in scuppering this. The instruction to Government backbenchers to vote for an agreed candidate undermined this important reform and so Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael cut a deal with a convicted tax cheat and crooked politician.

Incredibly, even now Micheál Martin and Simon Harris deny there is any deal done with Lowry. I accept there may be no written agreement and nothing transparent but clearly a deal has been done. Lowry has stated that he will exercise influence over the national development plan and the HSE capital plan. How public money is allocated in these multi-billion euro plans will have a very real impact on people's lives. Special treatment for one constituency means deserving projects in other areas will not be funded. When it comes to the HSE capital plan this can literally mean the difference between life and death. There should be no ambiguity about this, no nod, no winks, and no deals behind closed doors. The Taoiseach, who has left the Chamber-----

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