I do not believe it was an accident that the request for additional members for the Flood tribunal was delayed for six months; it was a deliberate tactic to slow down the tribunal's work so that such findings would not emerge until after the general election. Of that there can be no doubt, so let us not play act. Fianna Fáil knew what was coming and the shock, horror duly arrived. From the moment Ray Burke was reappointed to the Government in 1997, Fianna Fáil had every reason to be wary that this might come about because there was ample evidence.