Denis Landy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to the House. This has been a long debate on the findings of the Mahon tribunal. I want to acknowledge Senator Mooney's apology, on behalf of his party, for what some of his party members did. I fully respect the fact there are many thousands within the Fianna Fáil Party who had no hand, act or part in what went on in the matters that led to the Mahon tribunal.

There is a term, however, that can only be used in Ireland, the "likeable rogue". It is a contradictory term but was the one used in my constituency, Tipperary South, by many local authority officials to describe several politicians in my time as a local councillor for over 25 years. It meant many things to be a likeable rogue. Ultimately, however, it meant that one was a rogue. Rogues found ways of circumventing the laws of the land. What disturbs me about the Mahon tribunal is that it concentrated only on Dublin. The Minister of State, who was a member of a local authority herself, and every other Member who was on a local authority knows there could be a Mahon tribunal for every council. What was investigated in Dublin went on up and down the country. I saw it with my own eyes for 25 years. It was brought to an art form with the language and methodologies used, as well as the people involved, who constituted a clique. They succeeded and some of it will never be unearthed because the trails were well covered. People like my colleague, Deputy Joan Burton, the Minister for Social Protection, were talking about this 20 years ago but were ignored. I spoke about it in my constituency and was told I was anti-development and anti-progress. Some of what happened has come out through Mahon but it will never all come out.

Having praised Senator Mooney, I have to take issue with his claim that money was sloshing around and given to everybody. It was not given to people in my party because we did not accept it. The one party member who did was thrown out of the party within ten days of doing so. That is on the record of the Mahon tribunal. Trying to paint everyone with the one brush and suggesting that everyone was at it at the one time is an unfair analysis of what happened.