Opposition attempts to have the new tribunal of inquiry "bear in mind" the serious public concern relating to decisions taken by Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry while in office were rejected by the Government.
An amendment moved in the name of the Labour leader, Mr Dick Spring, sought to include a reference to certain decisions "made by holders of public office (which) may have been improperly influenced or obtained".
These would include the sale of lands at Carysfort and Glen Ding woods, the rezoning of land in the greater Dublin area, issues arising from the sale of the Johnson Mooney & O'Brien site in Ballsbridge, export credit insurance, the granting of the Esat Digifone licence and the granting of citizenship under the business migration scheme.
The amendment was defeated by 77 votes to 69. It was opposed by the Government, Mr Harry Blaney (Independent, Donegal North East), Ms Mildred Fox (Independent, Wicklow) Mr Jackie Healy-Rae (Independent, Kerry South) and supported by FG, Lab our, Democratic Left, the Green Party, Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) Mr Caoimh ghin O Caolain (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) and Mr Thomas Gildea (In dependent, Donegal South West).
Earlier, the Labour spokesman on the environment, Mr Brendan Howlin, said following the money trail was probably the most pro ductive way of operating for the tribunal, but there was a public view that the House signal clearly the issues which caused disquiet and which had undermined confidence in politics.
It was important the House put it explicitly in the terms of reference the issues which were to be investigated. If there were wrongdoings in any of these, it would it would be appropriate they be investigated properly now.
The Fine Gael spokesman on finance, Mr Michael Noonan, said if prima facie evidence of wrongdoing emerged in following an an alysis of the money trail, it could be investigated. The Labour am endment got over the problem of trawling through "one's favourite controversies" but at the same time it would meet the public concerns which still existed. Mr Pat Rabbitte (DL, Dublin South West) said it was known Mr Haughey had one benefactor for 2 1/2 years, but he must have had others. While establishing the identity of those was of some interest, it was of more interest if they had benefited from the relationship with Mr Haughey.
Mr O Caolain said the close relationship between the wealthiest in our society and the most powerful politicians for too long had brought first-class citizenship for a privileged few. "It has re duced the rest of us to less citizen ship and still today it excludes tens of thousands of our people from the benefits of the much-vaunted Celtic Tiger economy. The people are demanding that this inequality is ended and it is the business of the legislators to see that it is."
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said there had been much negotiation on how the House should proceed following the McCracken tribunal, and it had been decided to follow the money trail, not the decisions made If that led to any kind of "unusual" decisions, then the tribunal would be in a position to investigate them.
The Government and the opposition parties in the main wanted to go the route of following the money trail and then look at the decisions. The terms of reference were framed bearing that in mind as the mainstay of the tribunal.
Mr Higgins moved an amendment to have an investigation on whether any substantial payments were made to any political party, public representative or Dail candidate by any person who benefited from the tax amnesties of 1987 or 1993 and to determine if they influenced the decision to introduce the amnesties. He said there had been much talk about money trails relating particularly to Ansbacher, but there were a number of significant money trails in politics and business over the past 10 years, probably none bigger than the scandal of allowing super-wealthy individuals and powerful companies to escape with up to £1 billion in taxation.
Mr Higgins failed to get the support of 10 deputies to put the amendment to a vote.
He also moved an amendment to have the tribunal examine the sale and rezoning of 147 acres of State lands at Glen Ding Wood, Co Wicklow, to Roadstone Dublin Ltd in 1992. Describing it as a "scandal", he said he had heard Government deputies privately express disquiet about the sale without public tender.
Mr John Gormley (Green Party, Dublin South East) said his party wanted to know why sand and gravel deposits, which were worth an estimated £48 million in terms of its reserves of sand and gravel, was sold for £1.25 million. The party also wanted to know why a 3,000-year-old bronze-age site was delisted by the Government when Mr Haughey was Taoiseach.
Mr Higgins's amendment was defeated by 76 votes to 66. O Caolain, and opposed by the Government, Mr Blaney and Mr Healy-Rae. Ms Fox abstained.
An opposition attempt to have the tribunal undertake a detailed investigation into the Ansbacher accounts also failed. Moving a Fine Gael amendment, Mr Noo nan said the terms of reference focused on the accounts in a limited way. If the accounts had nothing to do with politicians and were merely there for tax or exchange control evasion to benefit private citizens, the public felt they should be also inquired into. Mr McCreevy said the wording of the terms of reference would give the Revenue Commissioners ample powers to pursue tax evasion if it came to light. A Labour amendment, further amended by the Minister, that laws be considered to protect the State's tax base against the use of offshore accounts for tax evasion or fraud, was passed.
