Beano over but Denis the menace lingers

HE MAY not wear a stripey jumper and have a dog called Gnasher, but Denis is proving quite the menace for Fine Gael.

Over a decade ago, Denis O’Brien gave us some interesting tribunal moments. Many familiar themes surfaced to delight Dublin Castle regulars: questions about links between politicians and business; strangely constructed donations; a misunderstood remark about making a large payment to a politician (it was only a joke); a web of offshore accounts and an unusual story about the sale of a property . . .

Until last week, Moriarty was the forgotten tribunal, despite Enda Kenny declaring last year that its report would not be allowed to gather dust. He would sever the links between politics and business for ever, he said.

We had forgotten those days in George’s Hall, when the tribunal investigated possible links the Big D and then Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry, who awarded Ireland’s hugely lucrative second mobile phone licence to O’Brien’s Esat group.

Fine Gael benefited handsomely at the time from the businessman’s commendable desire to assist the democratic process. We particularly remember the poor orphan cheque for $50,000 which, for some strange reason, nobody wanted to claim. Please God, it found a home.

The tribunal did not make a finding of corruption in relation to the awarding of the licence, but was in no doubt that payments to Lowry influenced his decision to choose the Esat bid.

Now here’s Denis who, unlike Enda’s report, is not gathering dust in the vicinity of Fine Gael: he’s popping up at prestigious events involving the Taoiseach.

Fianna Fáil, traumatised by the Mahon report, turned the tables and questioned the Government’s response to Moriarty’s findings.

And on Tuesday, Senator Jim D’Arcy referred to his party’s embarrassment. Calling for a debate on Mahon, he said: “There is something surreal about a compromised former taoiseach lecturing to people in Nigeria. There is something equally sickening about another compromised individual grinning like a hyena or an ass eating thistles and embarrassing our Taoiseach and country when the Taoiseach rang the . . . bell for the New York Stock Exchange.”

Who could he mean? It’s just as well Jim was speaking under privilege.