Tribunal questions - Government arrogance is contemptible

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern used the power of the Government to block Dáil questions yesterday in relation to the recent report of the Moriarty Tribunal.

Instead of taking questions, he delivered a statement that raised more questions than it answered.

Mr Ahern endorsed the report, expressing a degree of surprise at “the sheer scale” of the amount of money that Charles J Haughey was able to acquire for his own use from 1979 to 1996.

The amount, which equates to some €45 million in today’s value was “either privately donated to Mr Haughey or misapplied by him”, according to the Taoiseach. The use of the word “misapplied” was a stark understatement. That money was not just misapplied, it was stolen or robbed and should be deemed as such. It was equally understated to suggest “the account now presented to us is that of a private person who failed to live up to high standards”. The Taoiseach’s own statement makes it clear that Mr Haughey was acting in much more than a private capacity when he acquired and stole that money.

He was Taoiseach when he collected money to pay for Brian Lenihan’s liver transplant in the United States. He used the considerable influence of his office to get the VHI to make an ex gratia payment of £57,247.49 to the Mayo Clinic for the operation.

In addition, through his influence, the travel expenses of Mr Lenihan and his family were assumed by a couple of private businessmen.

When the money collected was far in excess of the cost of the operation, the VHI should have been repaid. Mr Ahern agreed with Mr Justice Moriarty’s conclusion that such behaviour “can only be said to have devalued the quality of a modern democracy”, especially when it happened while the governments led by Mr Haughey were championing austerity.

In our system there is collective cabinet responsibility, and as a member of that government, the current Taoiseach should not be allowed to duck his own responsibility, especially as he facilitated Mr Haughey in laundering money through the leaders allowance account by signing the blank cheques that were used to misappropriate funds.

People will hardly be satisfied with the Taoiseach’s admission that “the practice was undesirable”. It is an outrage that he should now seek to excuse such reckless behaviour on the grounds that “this was not an uncommon feature of life in past decades”.

Two signatures were required on each cheque as a safeguard against misappropriation. Ray MacSharry, the other person authorised to sign cheques along with Mr Haughey, did not engage in the reckless practice of pre-signing cheques, much less a whole book of cheques at one time.

Such behaviour was utterly irresponsible and was a gross dereliction of duty. In the circumstance, the audacity of the Tánaiste to intimate yesterday that the Mahon Tribunal should be wound down — because it is likely to cost up to €1 billion — is absolutely breathtaking. That tribunal is inquiring into planning corruption and payments to politicians.

Yesterday, the Government refused to answer about matters that even the Taoiseach agreed devalued our democracy, and the Tánaiste proceeded to intimate that we should discontinue the inquiry into the political corruption. It was a sad day for our democracy, but things will surely get worse, if the electorate tolerates such contemptible arrogance.