The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, has a point when he says the Government parties should not disadvantage Fianna Fail by holding a general election before the McCracken Tribunal completes the taking of evidence into payments by Mr Ben Dunne to, politicians. It would be quite wrong if the people were, to be asked to deliver a verdict at the polls following, Mr Dunne's evidence but before Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Michael Lowry and others had an opportunity to give their versions of events. At the same time, postponement of all hearings until after the election might be unfair to those parties not directly linked to Mr Dunne's payments and would be of particular benefit to Fianna Fail. The Taoiseach says that the Government must use its own discretion in deciding on an election date and that the tribunal must regulate its own affairs.
The McCracken Tribunal of Inquiry was established on a statutory basis by the Dail, last February, and is independent of Government. It will not, and should not, take dictation on how to conduct its business either from the Government or from the opposition parties. But it has a responsibility to the Dail and to the electorate to be fair and to be impartial. There is no reason to believe it will follow the example of Mr Justice Hamilton in the Beef Tribunal and suspend hearings when the election is called, if that would cause controversy.
Back then, the Beef Tribunal had been hearing evidence for more than a year, with no sign of completion, and the political parties had no objection to its suspension when the election was called on the fall of the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government. On this occasion, the tribunal may be in a position to complete the hearing of evidence in a matter of weeks. A failure to begin hearing evidence would give rise to as much complaint as a failure to complete the process. And, with a general election not due to be held for at least four weeks, and perhaps longer, there would appear to be no reason why the hearing of evidence should not be completed before polling day. The people would then be in a position to make up their minds on the evidence, even if the tribunal had not completed its formal report.
There were suggestions at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis of a conspiracy to damage the party's electoral prospects and to overshadow the party's conference, by the timing of the tribunal's inquiry into allegations that £1.1 million had been paid to Mr Haughey while he was Taoiseach and party leader. This charge does not withstand scrutiny. The Government was responding albeit belatedly to demands from Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats when it established the tribunal last February. There was some initial delay by the Government in appointing the statutory inquiry. But at that stage, the opposition parties were concentrating their attention on the transactions involving Mr Lowry, rather than Mr Haughey, and were prepared to benefit politically from the tribunal's work. Now that Mr Haughey has moved to centre stage, with the suggestion that there is evidence to link him to Mr Dunne's alleged payments, Fianna Fail cannot credibly reverse its preferences.
Mr Justice McCracken should proceed with his work as quickly as possible and let the political cards fall where they may. If it appears that proceedings are likely to be long drawn out it will then be up to the Taoiseach to decide whether or not the public interest is best and most broadly served by calling the elections date.