The calls for Liam Lawlor's removal from Dail Eireann are constitutionally unsound and plainly wrong in a parliamentary democracy such as ours. His democratic mandate may not be usurped by the moral majority. The only majority which counts in this case is that of the people of the Dublin West constituency. That is the constitutional position, as sanctioned by the people of Ireland.
It is important to stress, however, that every citizen, especially those in public service, must co-operate fully with the tribunals of inquiry and must comply fully with the lawful orders of those tribunals. Where Deputy Lawlor, or any other citizen, fails to comply with this legal duty they will receive due punishment. To paraphrase the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, there are no members of an untouchable caste in our Republic. Due process and the rule of law needs to be consistent and impartial. Indeed, Mr Justice Smyth in his judgment was clear on this matter: "We must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey."
To a large extent there is a lot more spin than substance surrounding the whole tribunal debate. This is especially evident in relation to the Lawlor affair and the attitude of the Fianna Fail party to him. While I don't subscribe to any conspiracy theory relating to the existence of an anti-Fianna Fail media cabal which strives to wreck the party, I do believe that the truth - being dull and hardly newsworthy - has suffered somewhat to more exciting (and often groundless) spin. The regular political media commentators have been scrupulous and fair with their comment and balance.
The facts are plain. Fianna Fail set up the tribunals, co-operates with the tribunals and will act swiftly on their recommendations. The party will not tolerate any individual who does not fully co-operate with the tribunals and their work. Public support is the very oxygen of any political party in a democracy. To put it bluntly, why would any party threaten that support to shroud or somehow condone corruption?
To deal with this issue, at the last Fianna Fail Ard Fheis ardfheis the party passed a mandatory code for office-holders and candidates, which remains the single most radical and progressive move made by any party on this island to set and maintain ethical standards in public life.
AS IT stands today, no member of Fianna Fail is eligible to be a candidate for any elected public office unless they have made a declaration that they have complied with or are in the process of complying with, all their tax obligations.
It was under the written guidelines and principles of the Mandatory Code for Officeholders and Candidates that a party committee on standards in public life conducted an internal inquiry into allegations of abuse in the planning process in Dublin. Following the publication of the report of the committee, Liam Lawlor resigned from the party. Following his resignation, on his own initiative he wrote to the Government Chief Whip outlining his intention to support the Government in the Dail. There were no deals, no understandings.
The spin which suggests that Fianna Fail somehow went to ground in the wake of Liam Lawlor's imprisonment (tragic for him and his family) is also without substance. The following lines are not written with the moral high ground (a dangerous place to be on the political spectrum) in mind or in any sense of adding to my former colleague's woes, but a number of Ministers were vocal on the High Court judgment.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, speaking on the evening of Deputy Lawlor's imprisonment stated: "So from a Government point of view the tribunals we believe have been vindicated by this, and I think it sends a clear message to everybody that they must co-operate." The Taoiseach was equally forthcoming: "Mr Justice Smyth gave his judgment and I respect it. That is the law of the land, without fear or favour. That's how it should be in a republic, every citizen should be equally accountable before the law."
This is the substance - perhaps less newsworthy - behind the spin.
Furthermore, the argument that Fianna Fail continues to claim allowances for Deputy Lawlor as one of its deputies, because he is in some way still associated with the party, is a false one. The allowance is paid to all political parties on the basis of the number of seats they won at the last election.
For example, in the last Dail, Fine Gael continued to receive an allowance for Michael Lowry after he had resigned from that party.
As I have written here before, the tribunals are part of a necessary process in our rapid 30-year movement from being essentially an agrarian-based economy to world-class prosperity. It is a cathartic process which, I hope, will end once and for all the lack of transparency which has inhibited the development of a civic society in Ireland.
That civic ethos which is so central to any republican vision of society simply cannot exist while the sense that who you are matters more than what you are, while the sense remains that the civic action of the man in the street is not being matched by those in public service.