THE newly elected chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr Alan Shatter, has said that there is a heavy responsibility on both Mr Michael Lowry and the Dunne family to respond without delay to many unanswered questions.
Addressing the Dublin South Fine Gael constituency convention, Mr Shatter, who was unanimously elected to replace Mr Alan Dukes on his appointment to Cabinet, said the allegations of recent days had cast a shadow across Leinster House "which I believe damages the moral authority of members of Dail Eireann to deal with these issues".
The disclosures had been a cause of dismay and concern to Fine Gael members and supporters, he continued. Many of the questions could be answered by Mr Lowry himself.
The longer he delayed in providing the answers, the greater the damage he did not only to himself but to the party.
Mr Shatter suggested it was important that Fine Gael Oireachtas members of the stood back from these events and properly assessed their implications for Government, democratic institutions and their party.
"Neither personal loyalty nor compassion for any individual nor political party partisanship can justify the defence of the indefensible," he added.
How the Government and Fine Gael colleagues conducted themselves in the coming days would, he believed, be a defining moment in the life of this Government and in the future political health of the Fine Gael party.
"There must be no doubt about the integrity of those who represent Fine Gael in public life," he said.
He concluded that it was crucial, in the interests of democracy, that the Dunne family make available for publication the document which allegedly existed showing the payments made and the reasons for them.
