Martin cannot brush off criticism for his silence on tribunal bashing

HOW can we be expected to believe Micheál Martin can root out corruption in the Fianna Fáil party when he can’t even identify the ministers who, according to the Mahon Report, launched a “sustained and virulent attack” on the tribunal and questioned “the legality of its inquiries as well as the integrity of its members” when it was investigating Bertie Ahern in 2007 and 2008?

I mean, it’s not as if he’s being asked to embark on a mission to find the lost city of Atlantis. Or, indeed, solve an even bigger mystery — the source of the monies that were discovered in Ahern’s convoluted bank accounts.

The list of people who could be implicated is by no means infinite and runs to just 15 members of cabinet and 20 junior ministers, after Ahern magnanimously opted to swell their ranks by three, from 17, when the party romped home in the 2007 election.