Michael Finnegan Believes Inquiry Will Come to “Nada”
The PM did not offer comments on this major concession following Cabinet today, nor did one of the most outspoken senior parliamentarians Michael Finnegan. While Finnegan pulls no punches as far as sharing his opinions on issues debated in Cabinet, today he was circumspect presumably to avoid preempting the prime minister’s announcement. But he did throw cold water on the investigation saying that nothing is expected to become of the inquiry. Thirteen ministers and ministers of state, according to the report, interfered in the issuance of visas, nationalities and passports. Here is what Finnegan thinks.
Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
“To me it doesn’t matter because nothing will become of it, as far as I am concerned. And these matters, they have got to be thought out properly before you proceed and if you proceed out of spite and out of vindictiveness and political expediency nothing will become of it, like the last one with the Social Security thing, with the months and months there. Weh come outta dat? Nada.”
Isani Cayetano
“Was there a vote or was there a unanimous decision amongst the parliamentarians in Cabinet that they will now go back to a Senate Select Committee as opposed to a Joint Special Select?”
Michael Finnegan
“The Cabinet has just made a decision on it but I think it would be right for the matter to be given to the press directly from the Cabinet. I think it would be improper for me to just walk out of Cabinet and give you a Cabinet decision without the matter come from Cabinet itself. That’s just my view. The Auditor General’s Report, it has not indicted no minister and says this minister is a thief, and says this minister runs rackets and this minister takes money from off the table. I don’t see the Auditor General’s Report saying that at all. The Auditor General’s Report said that ministers made interventions on behalf of people and she came to a conclusion that it was illegal to do so. Well she will have to show me the law that says that it is illegal for me Mesopotamia’s area representative to intervene on a matter for Daniel Ortiz that lives in my constituency at 78 George Street, which shows me a law that says that I can’t intervene on your behalf. That is craziness.”