KENNY REACTION:THE MANNER in which the contribution of $50,000 from businessman Denis O'Brien was handled by Fine Gael was wrong, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.
A party spokesman said it was the Taoiseach’s view “that the manner in which the cheque was handled was wrong and that it should not have taken the circuitous route it did”.
The Taoiseach had asked Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte to send the Moriarty report to the DPP and the Garda Commissioner.
The spokesman added that Mr Kenny would be introducing legislation to ban corporate donations and reduce political donation limits at the earliest opportunity.
He said Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin had accepted the findings of the Moriarty tribunal which had exonerated the Fine Gael-led cabinet of the day from any blame in the licensing process.
“In relation to the $50,000 donation from Denis O’Brien to Fine Gael, the Taoiseach quoted the report directly saying, ‘That donation was unwelcome to the party, and was rejected by the party leader.’ The Taoiseach went on to say that the manner in which the cheque was handled was wrong and that it should not have taken the circuitous route it did,” the Fine Gael spokesman said.
Earlier, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said in a radio interview that Fine Gael had not emerged from the report “smelling of roses” and could have handled the issue of the $50,000 donation better.
However, he went on to point out that the Fine Gael-led government of the day had been exonerated in the report and said Michael Lowry had resigned from that cabinet.
When it was put to him on RTÉ’s News at One that Fine Gael had gone to considerable lengths to play down businessman Denis O’Brien’s financial contributions to the party, the Minister replied: “I think it’s reasonable to say that Fine Gael doesn’t come out of this episode smelling of roses. But most of what people would have seen in the report was in the public domain many years ago. The cabinet is exonerated from any wrongdoing in the report. Mr Lowry did resign from that cabinet.”
When the interviewer went on to point out that the party had withheld the existence of the $50,000 Esat cheque from the tribunal for years, Mr Varadkar replied: “I think that was a mistake and I think we could have handled it better. Obviously I wasn’t around at the time.”
In a statement yesterday, Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said: “The Taoiseach must immediately clarify the details surrounding a £1,000-a-plate fundraising dinner hosted by him in October 1995, on the eve of the . . . government decision on a second GSM operating licence, at which a bidder for that licence is said to have been in attendance.”
He added: “This is an extremely serious matter and requires an urgent response from Mr Kenny.”
The Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin welcomed the Taoiseach’s announcement in the Dáil that the Moriarty report is to be sent to the relevant legal authorities for consideration.
Mr Martin said : “I am glad that the Government has heeded Fianna Fáil’s call to refer this grave report to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“It was immediately clear yesterday that the report raised serious issues that go to the heart of how public affairs are conducted and that action must be taken.”
