Bertie Ahern's decision to investigate possible corruption on the part of Fianna Fail councillors in parallel with the Flood tribunal's inquiries opens the way for more extensive inquiries by Fianna Fail into curious happenings within the party over the last 10 to 15 years.
Ahern has refused repeatedly to countenance any inquiry into his party's funding on the grounds that issues directly related to that come directly under the terms of reference of one of the tribunals and it would be cutting across the work of the tribunals to engage in any parallel inquiries. This was so even though there was copious evidence that monies intended for the party had been diverted and even though the party went though a financial crisis in the mid-1990s.
But the inquiry chaired by Rory O'Hanlon, the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party chairman, directly overlaps with the inquiries being pursued by the Flood tribunal, so there can be no difficulty now about pursuing an inquiry into party funding since 1987, in parallel with the inquiries of the Moriarty and Flood tribunals.
The question to be inquired into is simple: Did all money contributed by donors to Fianna Fail since the start of the general election campaign in 1987 find its way into the party's central coffers? And if not, where did it go?
A few obvious people could assist this inquiry. First, Paul Kavanagh, the fund-raiser for Fianna Fail from 1982 (approximately) until 1992. Then there is Des Richardson, fund-raiser for Bertie Ahern's personal campaigns in 1987, 1989 and 1992 and then party fund-raiser until recently. Sean Fleming, the current Fianna Fail TD for Laois-Offaly and financial officer for Fianna Fail during all the relevant periods until the 1997 general election, is another obvious witness.
And two former party general secretaries could assist, Frank Wall and Patrick Farrell. Let me make it clear there is no suggestion that these men did anything wrong, for I do not believe that they did.
They could be asked a few simple questions: are they aware of any monies that were donated for Fianna Fail, given to serving politicians (that is, serving at the time that the donations were made) and not transferred to the party, or have they any suspicions in that regard?
WE know already of two donations supposedly intended for the party but not transferred in full to central coffers. One is the £30,000 contribution made by Fitzwilton plc to Ray Burke in June 1989 and the other is a contribution of £50,000 made by Tom Gilmartin to Padraig Flynn in September 1989. But the dogs on the street know that far more money than that in the period 1987 to 1992 went missing. Some millions of pounds were involved. As leader of the party, Bertie Ahern surely has a special responsibility to track down these funds.
In case there are anxieties on the part of anybody who might co-operate with such an inquiry, they can be assured that there is a provision in the law of defamation which can protect them against any action that might ensue. It is the defence of qualified privilege which arises where the person communicating the information in question has a right or duty to communicate such information. Clearly any information passed to a Fianna Fail inquiry into missing money would be covered by qualified privilege.
As regards Fine Gael, for several years it has been evident that something very odd occurred in 1995, Fine Gael's first full year back in government for nine years. Just before Fine Gael returned to government in December 1994 the party was almost bankrupt, but a year later the financial problems which had dogged the party for almost a decade were resolved.
James Nugent, senior counsel, who is to head the Fine Gael inquiry, is an ideal person for the job. He is fully qualified to do an excellent job in discovering from where the Fine Gael Celtic tiger of 1995 came and on what that Fine Gael Celtic tiger was fed while the party was in government. Specifically, where did the money come from that averted the Fine Gael looming financial calamity in 1995 and in what way did those who contributed to that rescue benefit while Fine Gael was in government?
The last time I wrote about Fine Gael's finances, John Bruton got very agitated. Part of his agitation had to do with a suspicion on his part that I was suggesting he was personally corrupt. I do not think John Bruton is personally corrupt and I am not suggesting that.
Ruairi Quinn has proposed in the last few days that all corporate donations to politicians and political parties be banned. Very admirable.
But Ruairi could be said to owe his position as leader of the Labour Party to a massive corporate donation to himself; indeed, one that he himself sought out. This was his request for help to Independent Newspapers plc in November 1997 when he was contesting the Labour leadership election against Brendan Howlin. He arranged for the Irish Independent to commission and publish an opinion poll which he had reason to believe would be helpful to him in the leadership election. Furthermore, when questioned about this by journalists subsequently, he was less than frank in his responses.
It would be reassuring to know that no other favours were obtained from Independent Newspapers or any individual, organisation or company associated with Independent Newspapers by Ruairi Quinn, either personally, through his former architectural practice, or in any other way.
Come to think of it, it would be reassuring if all the leaders of the main political parties were to make a full disclosure of and were to answer questions on their personal finances and their personal election finances, going back, say, 20 years, or since they first entered politics.
vbrowne@irish-times.ie