Respecting Mahon - Answers are key to health of politics

Some government ministers appear to be in a state of blatant contradiction, affirming confidence in the Mahon Tribunal in the Dáil, while being bitterly critical of it in public. They can’t have it both ways and still retain public credibility.

The latest Government motion on the Mahon Tribunal would seem to suggest that those ministers are not prepared to back up their words with actions, because the public clearly has serious misgivings about the Taoiseach’s testimony.

The tribunal is expensive but the Fianna Fáil and PD elements of the current coalition were in power when the tribunal lawyers were granted their most recent increase in payments. Of course, that was before the tribunal uncovered evidence of the Taoiseach’s controversial “dig-outs”, and serious questions about the funding of his house in Drumcondra.