The Government has saved Mr Ray Burke from further scrutiny of the £30,000 donation he accepted from a builder during the 1989 general election campaign by defeating Opposition attempts to change the terms of reference of the new tribunal of inquiry. Last night's Dail vote was 76 to 69 in the Government's favour.
In a separate development, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, has appointed two authorised officers, under Section 19 of the Companies Act, to examine the books of two companies, Garuda Ltd and Celtic Helicopters Ltd, mentioned in the McCracken report.
She also announced that she hoped to be in a position to make a further statement "within a matter of days" about possible breaches of company law by Dunnes Stores or its subsidiaries.
Mr Peter Fisher has been appointed to investigate Garuda Ltd, the company owned by former minister, Mr Michael Lowry, which trades as Streamline Enterprises. Mr Gerard Ryan is examining the books of Celtic Helicopters Ltd. Mr Ciaran Haughey, son of the former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, is a director and substantial shareholder of that company.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, mustered a stout defence of his beleaguered colleague when he opposed a Democratic Left amendment to the tribunal's terms of reference which would refer the "source and circumstances" of the £30,000 donation to Mr Burke. The amendment sought to have the donation examined in private during a preliminary investigation by the tribunal.
Pressure mounted on the Government to accept the amendment when Fine Gael and Labour, in an overnight about-turn, decided to support the DL move. Asserting that he was not "the beholder of Raphael P. Burke's conscience", Mr McCreevy described the amendment as "the greatest amount of bloody hypocrisy that I have seen for a long time". It was about time, he said, that people "put up or shut up about it".
He accused the Opposition parties of supporting the amendment "because of some media hype today and [because] they feel they must be on the side of the angels".
Three Independent TDs, Mr Harry Blaney, Miss Mildred Fox and Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, voted with the Government.
Explaining why Fine Gael was supporting the DL amendment, the party leader, Mr John Bruton, said that there was not, as of now, a prima-facie case indicating that there should be a formal inquiry into the donation accepted by Mr Burke, but there were unanswered questions.
Mr McCreevy also rejected amendments seeking to establish the identify of the beneficial owners, other than politicians, of the monies held in the Ansbacher deposits. Instead, he proposed a Government amendment urging the tribunal to recommend whether any changes should be made in the tax laws for the protection of the State's tax base from fraud or evasion in the establishment and maintenance of offshore accounts.
Government sources indicated that they hoped to be in a position early next week to name the judge who will chair the new tribunal.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Garuda Ltd and Celtic Helicopters are co-operating with the inspections which the Tanaiste initiated two days ago. Section 19 of the Companies Act, 1990, permits the Minister, or authorised officials, to require the production of books or documents at such times and places as may be specified in relation to specific companies.
This power of inspection was previously used in connection with inquiries into CountyGlen in December, 1993, and Clon mannon Retirement Home in October the same year. In the CountyGlen case, a High Court inquiry resulted, while in the Clonmannon case liquidators were appointed to the companies on the petition of the then Minister.
Reports provided to the Tanaiste under Section 19 inspections may only be published with the prior approval of the companies concerned.
