What is the Tánaiste's position on the latest pandemic of donations amnesia to afflict her Fianna Fáil partners in Government? Is it convincing that the Chief Whip of her Government could forget to tell the planning tribunal about a £2,000 donation from a wealthy landowner——

I advise the House that matters before the tribunal should not be discussed in the House. Under Standing Order 56, the House is debarred from holding parallel tribunals here.

With respect, I am not holding a parallel tribunal.

Standing Order 56 precludes discussion on issues that are properly the business of a tribunal.

I am referring to the fact that items have come into the public domain and are admitted and certain. They are in the political domain. It is a nonsense if the Ceann Comhairle says that this Parliament cannot discuss it.

I remind the Deputy that Standing Order 56 was laid down by the Members of the House.

I ask the Tánaiste if it is of any concern to her that last week she said she discussed suspicions of corruption in Dublin County Council in the 1990s with Deputy Kitt and others. I know these were the most torrid days in the history of Dublin County Council because I was there. Speculators and bag men were crashing into each other as they arrived with donations to politicians. The Chief Whip accepts a donation, other Fianna Fáil TDs accept donations but then their memory fails.

I refer the Tánaiste to an earlier period of Progressive Democrats in Government when the unreliable memory of a Government colleague, the late Minister, Brian Lenihan, caused her to have him sacked from Government. By those standards, Deputy Kitt's memory lapse revealed last Monday would have the Tánaiste on Tuesday at the Taoiseach's door with her carving knife, followed close behind by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, with a silver platter to receive the Chief Whip's head. What has changed in the meantime?

I remind the Tánaiste that she is in charge. According to the Progressive Democrats president, Deputy McDowell, it is not the bulky bread which gives the sandwich its taste, it is the Progressive Democrats meat that gives the sandwich its flavour, incidentally reducing the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil to a soggy lump of batch. In west Dublin many people believe the PDs slipped into the sandwich under a leaf of lettuce and they hope it will be scrubbed better when the next one is being prepared. According to the Minister, Deputy McDowell, the junior party decides the essential direction of Government. Is it that the PDs are getting from this Government all they want such as privatisation of public assets — Aer Lingus is the next casualty — indulgence of the unbridled greed of speculators, a tax bonanza for the obscene rich and the pioneering of the race to the bottom which the Tánaiste pioneered by bringing Turkish big business to Ireland and so giving us the infamous Gama? In the indulgence of that orgy of greed which is the essence of the neo-liberal capitalism that she espouses, donations alleged, memory lapses and all the rest no longer cause her any problems.

For the possible amusement of the Ceann Comhairle, my research has indicated that the sandwich was invented by John Montague, the fourth earl of Sandwich. Apparently he did not like getting his hands sticky by handling the meat directly. He must have had a premonition of the future of Irish politics.

I think Deputy Higgins would make a very tasty meat sandwich. I suggest he talk to his colleagues in the Opposition about the possibilities after the next election.

The Oireachtas has established a tribunal of inquiry into certain matters and it is a matter for that tribunal to reach judgment and decision.

I have total confidence in the Government Chief Whip.

Of course the Tánaiste has confidence in the Chief Whip because she herself accepted political donations from speculators. The Tánaiste cannot evade responsibility for the consequences of the ethos which her Government has inculcated into Irish society. Has it ever occurred to the Tánaiste that the escalating cruelty and sheer callousness towards the fate of others, witnessed on the mean streets of Dublin in recent days and months, is really only a distorted reflection of the greed and callous disregard for social solidarity demonstrated by the very profiteering speculators and developers who have been financing her party and other parties? They are the exploiters of migrant workers and their ethos of greed is not only facilitated but glorified by her Government. When the Government allows speculators to become obscenely rich, for which homebuyers will pay for most of their lives, and Government politicians take substantial donations from those speculators when they illegally or legally accept donations from them, is the message not clear? The Government shrugs its shoulders and turns away. For the tens of thousands stuck with crippling mortgages as a result of the speculators who finance the Government parties we must say the PD sandwich has gone quite stale, in fact somewhat rancid. It is an indictment of the Government that it stands over and fuels this greed.

If Deputy Joe Higgins and people who share his policies were in power not many people would be able to afford even the sandwich.

Nonsense.

We should be proud of the record of this country in recent years. Only by supporting enterprise can one create the kind of environment that has generated unprecedented prosperity, while I acknowledge that there are many challenges and difficulties. Like many Members of this House and other houses around the democratic world, people engage in honest fundraising to support political activity.

Taking money from speculators is not honest fundraising.

The taxpayers should not have to pay all the bills for political campaigns.