Tánaiste urged to come clean on cash controversy
Mr Sargent said Mr Ahern should make a statement — “the sooner, the better”.
“I think that Michael McDowell also has a responsibility in the national interest to put the information he has into the public domain so that the statement from Bertie Ahern can be judged in the context of what Michael McDowell knows, rather than in isolation,” he said. “It would be a better way for the public to evaluate who is telling the truth and what the truth is.
“It appears, in terms of the Government, that there is more trust between Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley now than there is between Michael McDowell and Bertie Ahern, which is a very interesting turn of events,” Mr Sargent quipped.
The Green Party leader also stressed the problematic position the Tánaiste finds himself in.
“Yesterday I was saying that if somebody voted for Fianna Fáil they weren’t sure that they were going to get Bertie Ahern as leader of that party.
“Today if they vote for the PDs it’s not certain they are going to get Michael McDowell as the leader of that party given that Tom Parlon appears to have actually called the shots in relation to their course of action.”
The comments came as the Greens launched their 14-point plan for Environmental Protection, which would include the establishment of an environmental court and the drafting of a National Environmental Action Plan.
The party’s environmental strategy calls for more money and powers for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mr Sargent and party colleagues Ciaran Cuffe and Cllr Mary White said fines handed down at district court level for environmental offences were “derisory” and that an environmental court would have more teeth to penalise offenders.
Among other proposals are an annual environmental audit for local authorities, changes in the Advisory Board appointment procedures of the EPA, and greater coordination between environmental regulation and planning control.
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