THE TAOISEACH expressed the hope that there would be an early report from the Dunnes Stores payments tribunal. The House passed the tribunal's terms of reference without a division.

I would particularly like to highlight the request to the persons selected to conduct the inquiry to note the desire of this House that it be completed in as economical a manner as possible, and at the earliest date consistent with a fair examination of the matters referred to it," said Mr Bruton.

He also hoped, he said, that the tribunal should, as far as practicable, respect the confidentiality of personal and commercial information which was not relevant to the purposes of the inquiry.

But nobody could guarantee that the inquiry would necessarily provide conclusive answers to every question. "It is an expensive process and it can be time-consuming. But it is the most effective process available."

Mr Bruton said that the advantage of a tribunal under the 1921 Act was that its powers were well-established and had withstood a number of tests in the courts, not least arising from litigation in connection with the beef tribunal.

"The possibility of legal challenge to any procedure of inquiry cannot be ruled out, but the prospect of successfully resisting any such challenge is much greater with a tried and tested procedure of inquiry than with one which is novel, however welcome."

Information relating to payments made by Dunnes Stores or Mr Ben Dunne to politicians, political parties and possibly public servants was not confined to the Price Waterhouse report. There were also repeated media allegations involving a very large payment to a political figure.

Last December, The Irish Times contained a report that a prominent Fianna Fail figure is believed to have received more than £1 million from Dunnes Stores in the early 1990s. The report said that the money "was paid by several cheques with different bank accounts in London on a number of dates".

The newspaper had further reported that details of the payments were understood to be contained in an affidavit drawn up by Mr Ben Dunne as part of a legal battle.

"I know that, as I said here before, that the main opposition party feels, because of an allegation about an unnamed Fianna Fail figure, it has been unfairly put in a position where it is considered suspect," said Mr Bruton.

"This is not satisfactory or fair, either to the party concerned or to the individual or individuals whose names have been bandied about. It is not right. It is important that the matter is brought into the open and that all those to whom guilt can be attached are allowed to clear their names."

Indeed, he said, there had been an allegation in another newspaper that up to a dozen politicians received more than £5 million. It went on to state that members of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the PDs and Labour had all received payments and that, additionally, a current Senator and a top-ranking party official were among the beneficiaries.

The tribunal's terms of reference were designed to establish the amount of payments made to politicians, political parties and, depending on Judge Buchanan's continuing work and a subsequent resolution of the House, public servants.

They were also intended, most importantly, to enable the tribunal to inquire, in respect of payments, into "the considerations, motives and circumstances therefore."

It was not the fact of the payments that was important; it was the suggestion that they might have been made improperly or corruptly to influence politicians and public servants in the conduct of their business.

Mr Bruton said that Ireland had enjoyed a good reputation, in international terms, for the probity of its political system.

"We have a proud tradition of integrity and honesty in the conduct of our political and public affairs since the foundation of the State. It is a tradition which has served the national interest well.

"Each and every one of our citizens must be confident that he or she will be treated equally and fairly under the law. Each and every enterprise involved in the success story which is the Irish economy must know that they will never be disadvantaged because of someone else's corrupt behaviour. There must be a level playing field."

Nothing in the tribunal's terms of reference would cut across or interfere with the activities of the legal authorities, he said. Those authorities, particularly the tax authorities, were well-equipped with the skill, powers, resources and independence to investigate any matter that needed to be investigated.

"The Revenue Commissioners are the appropriate authorities for dealing with tax matters and with alleged infringements of the tax laws. They do not need any prompting from me or from anyone else in government or elsewhere to carry out their duties."