Sir, - Justice Brian McCracken's tribunal report says (Summary, items 34 & 35): "The possibility that political or financial favours could be sought in return for such gifts, or even be given without being sought, is very high, and if such gifts are permissible, they would inevitably lead in some cases to bribery and corruption. It is also not acceptable that any person or commercial enterprise should make such gifts in conditions of secrecy, no matter how well intentioned the motives may have been."
Contrary to what Mr Ray Burke is claiming, these are not new, 1997 rules; these basic, common-sense ethics have always applied. I would consider a complete stranger arriving at his door bearing £30,000 in used banknotes in two brown paper envelopes, for which he never wrote a thank-you letter, to be a `condition of secrecy'. How did the directors and auditors of JMSE Ltd show the transaction on their books at the time and can they now explain the excessively large amount (about £100,000 in today's money) and the unusual method of payment?
I find it extraordinary that the Dail voted not to examine the remainder of the Ansbacher accounts (apart from those with "political" connections), but to leave it to to the Revenue Commissioners, who had failed for over 20 years to realise that Charlie Haughey's lifestyle didn't match his Dail salary. However, I wasn't too surprised, as I didn't expect too much from either Fianna Fail or Fine Gael, who have been receiving "unsolicited donations" from big business for many years, which they steadfastly refuse to reveal. The size of the contributions, it will come as no surprise, seem to be larger whenever they are in Government - in a position of power! Their mantra of "no favours asked or given" will not deceive anyone - do they take the public for fools? Were they afraid that the Ansbacher accounts might reveal some of their benefactors or some of the tax amnesty recipients? However, I am disappointed at Mary Harney and the PDs, who in opposition, I'm sure, would have insisted on examining Ansbacher fully. Why the reticence now?
Finally a word of advice to Gay "Olympics" Mitchell, who claimed that "the Irish people must share some of the blame for the failure for so long to uncover how Mr Charles Haughey was funding his lifestyle." We elect politicians to govern in our name and to appoint civil servants, and between them to protect us from these corruptions. To date they have failed miserably, as the beef, Greencore, Hepatitis C, Carysfort, Haughey scandals, etc., have made quite obvious. Perhaps this explains why there hasn't been a government re-elected for many years? The people are not fools and they have long memories. - Yours, etc.,
Stoney Road, Dublin 14.