Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

The Mahon tribunal has carried out its work. It has identified unexplained significant payments to the Taoiseach and the integrity of that tribunal should be upheld by this Chamber.

Two issues have arisen. It is a political dimension to a legal process - the tribunal is effectively a legal process but there is a political dimension. We now know so much more than we did last year when there was a debate in the Oireachtas. We also know more now than we did before the general election. We know now what the tribunal believes are the unexplained payments, and what is regarded as the lack of co-operation by the Taoiseach. For the highest politician of the land to behave in this way is something we should debate in this House. Do we believe there are any standards in public office? I quote one standard cited by the Taoiseach in a public statement in 1997. He said that "the acceptance of large gifts or payments or personal benefits in a surreptitious manner ... by senior serving politicians or members of the Government is deeply damaging to trust in politics, and is a serious breach of it". He was right but he has not lived by those standards. I would ask the Leader to facilitate that debate.