Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Vaughan has discussed why his newspaper or maybe other newspapers were not more aware of the dangers in the blowing up of the bubble. He says on page 4, "Advertising in the property section was an important and valued source of revenue during the Celtic tiger years ... but it is important to stress that [it] did not seek to influence the editorial policy of the newspaper". That is Mr. Vaughan's quote. Before political parties had strict limits put on the amounts of money they could receive, developers, beef barons, banks, and corporate donors gave substantial sums of money to political parties and sometimes to leading members of those parties who always loudly protested that this had no influence whatsoever on the policies they promulgated or whose interests they advanced. It is true to say that very few people in Ireland believed them. Should they believe the media when they make a similar claim? When millions of euro are coming in from developers, for example, for property supplements, is it likely that one of those major developers would be challenged seriously on an issue?