THE two most important witnesses at the Dunnes payments tribunal - former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, and former Fine Gael Minister, Mr Michael Lowry - should be heard before the general election is called, the leader of the Progressive Democrats, Ms Mary Harney, has said.
Speaking in Cork yesterday, where she presented a development plan for the city and county, Ms Harney said the results of the tribunal should be made public before the electorate was asked to vote in the next election.
She said if the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, had taken swift action when the Lowry scandal first broke, a tribunal of inquiry would have sat and its findings would now be in the public domain, but because of his inaction the electorate faced the situation in which it did not have the tribunal's report available and in which it might be asked to vote when these matters remained unclear.
While she did not wish to name particular individuals - given that the tribunal had not yet heard all its evidence - questions still remained to be answered. If it were the case that a former Taoiseach accepted £1.3 million from big business - "that would be very disturbing, and he owes it to the public to say what he knows.
"Similarly, if Mr Lowry accepted benefits then he should also say what he knows. If people were involved in tax avoidance, then the Revenue Commissioners must take action and there must be high profile prosecutions. I believe that both men have a very strong case to answer and we need to hear from them," Ms Harney said.
She predicted the election would be on June 6th, but said if polling day was put back to the autumn, the economic boom which the State is enjoying would have been frittered away.
She said the Government had been pandering to every vested interest in the State and unless the election took place soon, all the benefits which had been achieved by the proper management of the economy would be wasted.
In her manifesto for Cork, Ms Harney called for greater autonomy for the city - given that it is the second city in the Republic - a new transport policy, more emphasis on tourism, industrial development, art, culture and sport. She wanted to see a democratically elected regional authority for the whole Cork region, which has a population of 420,000 - with a directly elected chairman who would have executive powers for five years.
Ms Harney claimed yesterday her party had more in common with the British Labour Party than the Labour Party here does.
"The victory of new Labour must be seen as a victory for a party which sought and obtained a huge mandate for lowering the income tax rate and keeping the top rate at 40 per cent. It is a victory for a party which set its face against tax-and-spend policies. It is a victory for a party that committed itself to further privatisation."