THE COMPTROLLER and Auditor General should be asked to scrutinise the report on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA), Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton told the Dáil.
He called for the report’s immediate publication and a Dáil debate. “The Attorney General and those concerned have had plenty of time to consider it,” he said. “We must now move to see real accountability for the appalling decisions that were made.”
Mr Bruton said that such issues constituted immense exposure to the taxpayer and the Dáil deserved to have a debate, “in view of the fact that journalists are discussing them freely on the airwaves”.
It made a nonsense of the Dáil, he added, if the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan was not willing to provide the basis for a reasoned debate on an important issue.
Ms Coughlan, who was taking the Order of Business, said she did not disagree with Mr Bruton.
“It is clearly the intention of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government [John Gormley] to ensure there was a debate and that the report was published as quickly as possible,” she added.
Ms Coughlan said it was important to point out that the DDDA report was in draft form, and “it was not the Government that made it available to the press”.
Pressed by Labour leader Eamon Gilmore to explain what she meant by a “draft” report, Ms Coughlan said that it had been sent to interested parties to give them an opportunity to reply to its findings.
“It is also important to point out that Prof Brennan has implemented many of the recommendations within the report,” she added. Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said that the draft report should be laid before the House later in the day. “It is already in circulation in the media,” he added.
