THE Taoiseach challenged the leader of Fianna Fail to approach the member of his party alleged to have received about £1 million from Dunnes Stores and to ask him if there was truth in the reports.
The work of the tribunal would be made much easier if the information was volunteered rather than forced, Mr Bruton suggested in the Seanad. He was speaking in the debate on the establishment of the tribunal, which was agreed.
The Taoiseach said that Mr Bertie Ahern had referred to newspaper reports of £1 million being paid to a senior member of that party who had held high office. The money was said to have been paid into an offshore bank account.
Mr Ahern should consider going to that person and asking directly for the truth. Then he could make the outcome known and thereby save the tribunal a lot of difficulty. Mr Ahern might also be able to confirm that the individual in question would give his fullest cooperation to the tribunal.
The Fianna Fail leader in the Seanad, Mr G.V. Wright, welcomed the British government's "U-turn" on preparations for an underground nuclear waste dump at Sellafield.
He was reacting to the announcement by the Minister of State for Energy, Mr Emmet Stagg, that the British government had decided to engage in a public consultation process about information which had just come to light on the controversial Nirex proposal. Mr Stagg added that his Department would be included in the process. He understood the results would be considered by the British Secretary of State for the Environment when he eventually adjudicated on the Nirex appeal.
The Department would, elaborate our strenuous opposition to the plan.
The Seanad passed a motion, proposed by Mr Wright, calling on the Government to lobby its British counterpart to have Sellafield closed.
During a debate on Northern Ireland, Mr David Norris (Ind) said it was particularly worrying that disturbing noises were emerging about what was planned for the Harryville church blockade.
There was talk of 24 marching bands assembling from all over Northern Ireland. According to reports, one of the people orchestrating the event was a convicted murderer.
He hoped the RUC would take an investigative interest in the background of this person, so that he would be prevented from implementing the worst of these excesses.
Mr Sam McAughtry (Ind), stressed the need to strengthen governmental contacts with Sinn Fein. He was very much in favour of sitting around a table to discuss various matters and he was prepared to overlook differences to get unionists to sit down with their political opponents.
Mr Shane Ross (FG) said the lesson of Canary Wharf - the first anniversary of which would be marked this weekend - was that the so-called peace process was dead. He regretted that the Government had displayed weakness in dealing with Sinn Fein-IRA.
Admitting that progress to date had been tortuously slow, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, assured the House that the Government was committed to doing all it could to make the Northern talks work. It was essential that the decommissioning hurdle be overcome, he said. The way forward had been mapped out by Senator George Mitchell.
It was regrettable that those who were most vocal on the need to proceed without Sinn Fein had done least to make progress in that format a real possibility, and had continued to focus so unblinkingly on precisely that issue - decommissioning - where practical progress without Sinn Fein was least likely.