The Tánaiste, Michael McDowell: Yesterday evening the Progressive Democrats parliamentary party considered a number of recent developments and we issued a statement which dealt with the issue of the payments which were made to the Taoiseach by a group of friends in 1993 and 1994.
Our statement didn't deal with the question of payments which were made to him in Manchester because at that time we didn't have the facts.We felt it would be inappropriate to comment one way or the other on something which we weren't clear about on a factual basis.
This morning in the Dáil it was said that the Government, both parties in the Government, are absolutely agreed that there must be in all of these type of matters, full public accountability.
That is accountability in Dáil Éireann, and it is accountability not merely giving a point of view but also accountability to the requisite degree to bring public opinion with the account given and to sustain the credibility of the account given.
There is provision next week for a debate in Dáil Éireann. I've spoken to the Taoiseach today in relation to my concerns in relation to the payment of £8,000 sterling in Manchester.
I subsequently studied the transcript of an interview he gave on radio in relation to these matters.
And having spoken to the Taoiseach about these matters and having seen the transcript of the radio interview,
I have to say that there are very significant matters of concern which are not completely put at rest by the facts now in the public domain.
Question: What are those matters of concern?
Mr McDowell: On the account given by the Taoiseach of his visit to Manchester there's a suggestion that a group of businessmen, not all known to him, who gave £8,000 sterling to him, so that he's not now in a position to identify who gave him what. That was a significant sum of money and there are a number of aspects of that which need to be clarified.
Question: What aspects?
Mr McDowell: Well, a very significant number: who the donors were, as best that can be done; what the nature of the event was; what the funds were intended for and what they were used for. And all of those issues, and what category of payment do they fit into - was it a gift, a loan, a political donation, a personal donation? All of these issues have to be clarified.
Question: You say that you had ongoing concerns. What did the Taoiseach say to you when you told him that?
Mr McDowell: I'm not going to deal here with a private conversation that I had with the Taoiseach but I just indicated to you that in broad terms I conveyed to the Taoiseach that I had concerns on the matter.
He indicated to me that he had given a radio interview. I told him I was expecting a transcript of that interview.
I've now studied that transcript and, as I say, those concerns have not been addressed entirely or completely.
Question: You're the Coalition partner. Why has it taken seven days to discuss these issues with him?
Mr McDowell: As I understand it he mentioned briefly he received money in Manchester. The details of it or the circumstances were not known to me until today, insofar as they are known to me.
Question: Why did you not seek further details on this until now?
Mr McDowell: Well I did in fact discuss this with my parliamentary colleagues. . .
Question: But not with the Taoiseach?
Mr McDowell: I had to address firstly the issue of the loans. And I had to get the facts in relation to the matter . . . I'm not going to be rushed by other people into early judgments. I want to be fair to everybody and I wanted to give other people the time to assemble all the facts so that they can give me sufficient information for us to make our judgment on those facts.
Question: The Taoiseach said he has no tax implications on the money and that he did not breach any ethics codes. Do you think this requires further clarification?
Mr McDowell: Well I would say this. The tax status of money of that kind, which is a very substantial sum of money, is not really the primary issue. It's its status in terms of standards. That's the crucial thing, and whether it can be defended, that's the issue.
Question: Was it wrong of the Taoiseach to have taken that money?
Mr McDowell: Well, I want to give him the opportunity to fully state the circumstances and I don't want to form a judgment here on that issue. But I do want to say this. That it is an issue on which there must be accountability and on which the people of Ireland are entitled to accountability.
Question: When did you expect a reply from the Taoiseach? Is it within hours?
Mr McDowell: These issues are of long standing and there isn't a question of timeframes of the order that you're mentioning being set for anything.
Question: Is the issue of the Dublin payments closed now?
Mr McDowell: We spoke about that and we gave a very fair evaluation of it. And I think that it is an evaluation that the vast majority of people agreed with at the time.
This second issue now is a different one. In relation to the first matter we remained quiet while the facts were assembled for us so that we could give a fair view of the matter as we saw it and I intend to do the same in relation to the second issue that has arisen.
Mr McDowell was speaking to journalists at an official engagement at the Legal Aid Board in Dublin