Calleary 'disappointed' by findings

Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary said this morning he felt “betrayed” by the content of the Mahon tribunal report, although he declined…

Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary said this morning he felt “betrayed” by the content of the Mahon tribunal report, although he declined to comment on specific findings.

Party leader Micheál Martin had called a meeting of the party’s officer board for this evening. The board comprises the party leader; general secretary; honorary secretaries; honorary treasurers and vice presidents.

Mr Calleary, speaking on the Today with Pat Kenny programme on RTE also said he was "disappointed" by the report's findings. He said the trust of the public had been betrayed, and he also referred to "annoyance" at the findings.

In a statement, Fianna Fáil said Mr Martin will issue a detailed statement following this evening's board meeting and tomorrow morning will hold a press conference to respond publicly to the Mahon report's findings.

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Mr Martin has written to the Clerk of the Dáil to ask that the report be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration.

Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins said the tribunal report would remind people about the “enormous greed and corruption of a tiny elite who plundered” society and would "intensify the boycott against the household tax."

Mr Higgins made the allegation during leaders’ questions when he said people would make the link between that corruption and Ireland’s current disaster, when the majority had to “pay for their greed with disastrous consequences for society”.

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore acknowledged a link between the contents of the Mahon report and what the tribunal was asked to investigate. He said this “is not unrelated to the difficulties that this country faces today”.

The Green Party called for more checks to be put in place against corruption and called on Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan to reverse his decision to block any review of the most worst rezoning scandals.

"We need to change the way local government works, starting with the introduction of directly elected regional authorities, as is recommended in the report. These ills of our democracy will only be solved with greater democratic accountability and not less," said party leader Eamon Ryan.

"A former taoiseach, minister, TDs and councillors have been caught lying and engaging in corrupt practices and, for them, there can be no hiding from the conclusions of this Report. The leadership of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael now have to show what they are going to do to change the corrupt culture that was allowed develop in sections of each of their parties," he added.

Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International Ireland today urged the Government to radically reform how corruption is investigated in the wake of today's report.

"It took 15 years and some €300 million to find out what the gardaí and Standards in Public Office Commission should have exposed. The problem was law enforcement agencies were never allowed to do their job,” said the group's chief executive John Devitt.

“Public trust and confidence in the State’s political institutions is at rock bottom and the government needs to take swift action to ensure state agencies can properly investigate allegations or suspicions of wrongdoing,” he added.