Deputy defends the indefensible

DEPUTY John Cregan’s partisan letter (March 1) attacking RTÉ for its coverage of the Mahon Tribunal is a flagrant abuse of his position as chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, and it represents neither Fine Gael members of that committee nor “the Irish taxpayer and the licence-paying public”, as it claims.

His attack represents further evidence of the depths to which Fianna Fáil will stoop in their obsession with protecting the Taoiseach, regardless of his credibility among the public.

The new tactic, it seems, is to attack anybody who questions Bertie Ahern’s evidence and analyses the inconsistencies therein.

Instead of addressing the pressing issues of the day, the Government Press Office appears to be spending its time monitoring RTÉ’s coverage of the tribunal in order to go on the offensive.

Deputy Cregan’s letter includes a detailed analysis of an entire day’s reporting, down to the exact numbers of journalists involved, which raises the question as to whether he even wrote the letter himself, or whether it was a Fianna Fáil press office publication.

It is difficult to see the Dáil returning to the normality of solving the everyday problems of people until the shadow cast by the credibility of the Taoiseach’s tribunal evidence and his efforts to frustrate and stall the tribunal are over. Fine Gael will not allow Fianna Fáil to cover up the Taoiseach’s dishonesty by attacking the tribunal, opposition parties or RTÉ for that matter. The truth will become apparent in time; in fact it is already apparent to most people, which is why Fine Gael has called on Bertie Ahern to resign as Taoiseach.

Standards in government are important. The public will no longer be fooled by ministers who attack the tribunal’s approach, by John Cregan’s letter challenging RTÉ for doing its job or by the Taoiseach’s efforts to frustrate and confuse tribunal lawyers.

Irish people deserve honest government working hard to solve the many problems that need answers at this challenging time.

Instead what we have is a Government whose only priority is retaining power and protecting its own leader, defending the indefensible.

Simon Coveney TD

Leinster House

Kildare Street

Dublin 2