The Taoiseach is coming under sustained pressure from Opposition leaders to compel the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, to make a personal statement to the Dail next week about a £30,000 donation from a builder in 1989. The three Opposition leaders, Mr John Bruton, Mr Dick Spring, and Mr Proinsias De Rossa, as well as the Green Party, are united in demanding Mr Burke face a question-and-answer session next Wednesday before the Dail agrees terms of reference for the new tribunal.
Arrangements were made by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, yesterday to meet the Fine Gael and Labour leaders today and the Democratic Left leader tomorrow to discuss the remit of the second tribunal. Mr Spring has already signalled to Mr Ahern it would be pointless meeting today if the Government's proposed terms of reference were not available to him beforehand.
Government sources indicated to Mr Spring that Mr Ahern was not in a position to clear them last night.
Without seeing the written terms of reference, the three main Opposition parties indicated acceptance, in principle, of the Government's intention to have a new tribunal investigate the Ansbacher deposits unearthed in the McCracken inquiry, any further donors to Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry, and whether such donors benefited from any government decisions.
Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left called on Mr Burke yesterday to explain to the Dail next Wednesday the circumstances surrounding the payment of a £30,000 donation to him by a builder during the 1989 election campaign.
Mrs Nora Owen, Mr Brendan Howlin and Mr Pat Rabbitte insisted Mr Burke's statement should be made in advance of a decision by the Dail on the terms of reference of a new inquiry so that the 1989 money could be referred to it if the Dail considered it necessary.
