McGrath says senior government politicians are "going along with the Americans" and refusing to attack US policy in the Dail. Pointing to the "wining and dining" of politicians by the US embassy, the Dublin North Central TD says that he has "major suspicions re the shenanigans going on".

Expressing annoyance that "too many Irish politicians are tipping the cap to the US", McGrath said he was "absolutely sure they [the US government] could be bankrolling some politicians in the Dail", for example, in an election campaign. He acknowledged that he had no evidence of this, but promised to investigate the matter.

Asked if politicians were not simply being supportive of a country that had invested billions of euro in the Irish economy, creating tens of thousands of jobs, McGrath said that was not an excuse.

He himself welcomed, and had no problem with, US investment in Ireland, but he said his own relations in the US were criticising President Bush, while politicians here didn't have "the bottle" to tell the US government, as friends, where it was going wrong.

In the Dail last week, McGrath tabled a question to the minister for foreign affairs asking "if his attention had been drawn to the fact that the USA gives out $59m each year to journalists and media people that will spread misinformation about Cuba; and if his attention has further been drawn to that practice here".

Expanding on the issue raised in the question, the Independent TD, who has just returned from a holiday in Cuba, says he has noticed a distinct change in attitude across the EU towards Cuba.

Whereas five years ago, the EU wanted to play the role of broker between the US and Cuba, that had now changed.

He now wants to organise a cross-party Oireachtas delegation to visit the country and find out what is really happening there.

Asked about reports of abuses of civil rights going on in Cuba, McGrath said he believes such reports are exaggerated, although he stressed he was not saying that they didn't happen and added that the imprisonment of journalists was wrong.