At Question Time to day, I asked the Minister for Justice the following question:
To ask the Minister for Justice if he will state (i) whether inquiries have been completed into the allegations first communicated to the Government in September, 1947, and referred to by the present Minister for External Affairs in Enniscorthy on the 31st January, 1948, that persons connected with the Government were guilty of fraud in connection with Government contracts, petrol rationing and price control Orders; and, if so, what the result of these inquiries has been; (ii) whether there was delay at any stage in pursuing these inquiries and, if so, the circumstances; (iii) whether any court proceedings have been instituted or are contemplated as a result of the inquiries and, if so, whether he will give particulars; (iv) finally, whether as a result of the inquiries it has been disclosed that any person connected with the last Government was in any way involved.
I now raise the matter because I was not satisfied with the reply I got. That reply was:
"The allegations referred to were to the following effect:
(1) that a certain firm which had contracts to supply turf to Government Departments had given short weight over a number of years;
(2) that this firm had obtained excessive quantities of petrol for the haulage of turf and had blackmarketed the petrol so obtained; and
(3) that a number of persons including a Fianna Fáil Senator and the chairman of a public board had obtained petrol irregularly from this firm.
The inquiries into the allegations have been completed and have resulted in the prosecution and conviction of the firm for contraventions of the rationing and price control Orders in connection with the sale of petrol and in the prosecution and conviction of two other firms for the purchase of petrol. The Attorney-General decided that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant any other prosecutions.
I am satisfied that there was no avoidable delay in the investigation of the allegations."
I will have to claim your indulgence, Sir, in going a little into the history of this case. Some time in September, 1947, Deputy de Valera, who was then Taoiseach, received a letter from a firm of solicitors containing complaints of the nature set down in this question and reply. He phoned to me in my office and asked me to go down to him, stating that he had received this letter and that he wanted to show it to me. I immediately left my office and went to his office where he handed me the letter. I saw immediately that, as the letter contained allegations of fraud, it was a matter for the police. Anybody with any experience whatever would have known that. This letter, as I say, was from a firm of solicitors and they had taken the unusual course of calling in two senior counsel instead of doing what any ordinary citizen would have done, that is, saying to this man who made the complaint—he was, by the way, a disgruntled employee of the firm about which he was making the charges: "This is a letter making allegations of fraud and you should bring it to the police." That is what I submit any ordinary sensible citizen would have done. Instead of doing that, this firm of solicitors who, I found during the general election, were agents for some of the Clann na Poblachta candidates in Dublin—I cannot even remember their name; they are not very well known, but I saw their names as agents for some of these candidates in Dublin during the general election—called in two political lawyers, one, the present Taoiseach and the other, the Minister for External Affairs. From them, they got the advice that this was a matter for public inquiry and that they should write to the Taoiseach and demand this inquiry.
That was the letter I was handed and in the envelope there was, so far as I can recollect, the advice of both these counsel, who, so far as I could see, were more interested in politics than in law. Otherwise, they would have done what any ordinary citizen would have done in the circumstances, that is, to tell the man to bring his case to the police as it was clearly a matter for investigation. I knew, when going to the Taoiseach's office that there was a chief superintendent of the guards in the Department of Justice and I phoned one of my officials and asked this chief superintendent to remain until I saw him, that I wanted to give him a letter. I went up to my office almost immediately, having given my opinion that it was a matter for the police, and handed this letter to the chief superintendent. I said to him: "I want you to investigate the matters contained in this letter as you would investigate any other charge or complaint made to the police." He read the letter and said he would. I said there was one thing I should like to know as soon as possible—"Is there any ground whatever for the allegation that any person connected with the Government is involved in this matter and I would like you to investigate that part as quickly as you can and let me know".
I do not remember exactly how many days elapsed, but within four or five days he came back and told me that this matter would take a long time to investigate, that there were all sorts of inquiries to be made of men who drove lorries. The allegation was that each of these lorries supplying turf to Government Departments was in receipt of ten gallons of petrol, of which one gallon was being kept back and blackmarketed. He said that all sorts of people would have to be interviewed and that they would have to try to trace the petrol to the place in which it was blackmarketed and that it would take a long time. I said I understood, but that naturally I was anxious to know if anyone connected with the Government was concerned. He said that there was no case whatever against this Senator, who was the only person who could be said to be in any way connected with the Government. He was a member of our Party and was sitting in the Seanad.
