Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to the House. The second interim report by Mr. Justice Flood into certain planning matters and payments to politicians has evoked widespread public and political reaction since it was published last month. Mr. Justice Flood cuts through the evidence he heard at the tribunal to produce clear and precise conclusions on the many varied issues he was asked to investigate by both Houses of the Oireachtas. While we should all be mindful of the fact that the tribunal is not a court of the land, the conclusions reached by Mr. Justice Flood concerning former Fianna Fáil Minister, Ray Burke, have been stark and uncompromising.

The tribunal found that Mr. Burke received "corrupt payments" from various individuals during his political career. The report paints a picture of a politician hopelessly compromised who was unable to perform his public duties as a result of receiving vast sums of money. Notwithstanding the potential that charges may follow the publication of the Flood report and the implicit right of Mr. Burke and others to defend their name in court, there is an obligation on the Government and all Members of the Oireachtas to now consider the decisions taken by Mr. Burke while he was a Minister. The excuse that all these decisions can be left to one side while the tribunals continue should not be countenanced by any politician. Where there is worry or doubt about decisions taken in the past by the former Minister, the Government should now investigate and, where wrongdoing is found, take appropriate action.

The comments made in the other House last week by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, are a cause of concern. During his reply to a question about Mr. Burke's handling of the passports for investment scheme the Minister informed the House that, having studied the file, he found the 11 passports and naturalisations granted were "irregular and unusual". He went on to say serious questions concerning the role of the former Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, in the granting of the citizenships should also be posed. His words were shocking. If the original decision to grant these 11 naturalisations is suspect in the Minister's mind, he has a responsibility to initiate an inquiry into the matter.

The Citizenship Act, 1956, gives the Minister the sole power to revoke citizenship. Having read the file and used precise language in the other House, this suspect decision of Mr. Burke must now be reopened to enable questions to be put to those involved in the case. The power to revoke citizenship rests, not with tribunals, but with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Failure on the part of the Minister to act at this stage and investigate the bizarre circumstances which surround the granting of citizenship would further undermine the respect people have in the concept of citizenship. If a wrong was committed, it is compounded every day because citizenship is still available to the 11 individuals involved. While the scheme was discontinued in 1998, a total of 44 persons were naturalised by Mr. Burke as Minister.

Derek McDowell (Labour)
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Before dealing with the case which is the subject matter of the Adjournment debate, I would like to bring to the attention of the Members of the House that the report of the review group on investment based naturalisation in Ireland was brought by me before Government in July 2002. I arranged for its publication on 4 August 2002 and a number of copies were placed in the Oireachtas Library at the time. In addition, I issued a press statement which was widely reported in the media.

As that report shows, a major flaw in the scheme was that it was not statute based. The operating rules governing it, in the form of a statement of intent, were essentially a set of administrative guidelines which were flexible and flexibly operated. The review group report also shows that this flexibility or looseness of process applied in many cases and was not confined to the case which is the subject of this debate.

I informed the other House in response to a parliamentary question on 17 October last that I had examined a particular file at the request of the Taoiseach. The file is currently with the Moriarty tribunal. All the passport for investment files in respect of persons naturalised under the scheme prior to 1997 were sought by the Moriarty tribunal. There was a copy of the file in my Department. However, I also retrieved the original from the tribunal to satisfy myself that the copy file was complete and that was the case.

My examination confirmed that the file discloses that 11 passports and naturalisations were granted in a manner which was, even by the lax standards that frequently characterised the operation of the scheme in question, irregular and unusual. It appears that the passports and naturalisations in question were effected in a manner which bypassed usual formalities and ignored failure by the applicants to comply with elementary documentary requirements. It also appears that the passports in question were prepared in advance of the completion of the applications for naturalisation.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Correct.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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—and that during that period the report to which he referred in extenso and with which he shows a degree of familiarity, namely, the Cole report, was in the possession of the then Minister for Justice, Mrs. Nora Owen.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Correct.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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At the time she had all the material which he, then a Member of Dáil Éireann, is now asking me to start investigating. Nothing new has come to light. It is somewhat strange that I am now being asked to do something which, when much fresher and closer to the event, was manifestly not done by the Senator's party when it had the opportunity to do so. Why? No satisfactory explanation has been offered to me as to why nothing was done. If it is now so egregious and so manifestly requisite of me that I should conduct an inquiry of some sort, why was it not done by the Senator's party colleague when both were Members of Dáil Éireann and she had direct ministerial responsibility for the issue?

It is notable that no such inquiry was held at the time and the matter appears not to have been progressed. While I am not saying anything critical of one of my ministerial predecessors, Mrs. Nora Owen, I will not be judged by a different standard or have the innuendo made that I am failing in my duty when no criticism was made of the former Minister, whose name the Senator did not even mention. This is startling, to put it mildly.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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The conclusions of the tribunal are now known.

Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)
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Ray Burke has been found to be corrupt in the meantime.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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If Senator Hayes's point is that a different view must be taken of the matter now because of what we know from the tribunals, it has some validity. However, he will remember that his colleagues in Dáil Éireann made the point that it should have been apparent in 1997, before the tribunals were established, that this was a reason not to appoint of Mr. Burke. He cannot have it every way. I am aware of a desire in the Fine Gael Party to put me in the position of either stating there is nothing wrong with the file or else choosing to criticise the Taoiseach. I will not fall into that elementary trap. The real question is why the Fine Gael Party, when in Government, did nothing to investigate this matter or bring it forward. The Senator must ask himself this question as he shares collective responsibility for it to a far greater extent than I do.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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As the Minister in charge, he has statutory responsibility for the matter.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Senator proposes the establishment of an interdepartmental inquiry to investigate whether decisions to grant naturalisation in 11 cases were validly grounded. There is little point in following that course. I put it to him that the idea of me asking either Mr. Burke or Mr. Haughey to explain their role in this matter is naive and childish.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Has he spoken to the officials?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I have spoken to officials in my Department.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Will he publish the memorandum from the former Minister?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am making the point that the idea that I would receive a reply to a letter which would allow me to return to the House with an explanation is naive. In the first place, I have indicated to the Dáil previously that the former Minister for Justice, Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, commissioned a report into this matter during her term of office. The investigation was carried out by a senior departmental official.

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Will he publish the memorandum?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Senator is aware, the Cole report, to which he referred extensively, was leaked to the newspapers. I do not understand what point is being made. Am I to publish something which appeared in the newspapers in September 1997?

Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister suggesting it is exactly the same memorandum?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I presume The Irish Times had the Cole report. The investigation was carried out by a senior departmental official. Although the former Minister for Justice, Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, resigned from office before the report became available, it became available during the term of office of Mrs. Nora Owen.