Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Dr. Byrne said earlier that we in Ireland are a little blasé about ethics. To some degree, people vote for their local representatives and while they will rail against what they perceive as unethical behaviour, given they were the ones on the inside track in terms the clientelism in which we are accused of participating day in and day out, any politician who decides to take the high moral ground in politics and work only in a policy and legislative role will be a very short time in Dáil Éireann. That is part of the cultural issue about which Dr. Byrne spoke.