Dr. Elaine Byrne:

I do not subscribe to the perception that all politicians are corrupt. It is a disservice to believe that those who enter public life do so out of self interest. During my opening statement I said that I believe that the enactment of these type of protections serve to protect the vast majority of people in the sports or politics communities, from the misdemeanours of a minority. I concur with the comments made by the Ombudsman that the vast majority of public representatives in Ireland do not on a day to day basis commit ethical breaches. Perhaps the putting in place here of something like the Nolan principles introduced in the UK, in terms of aspirations as to what public life should subscribe to, would be a positive development.

I worked in the UN anti-corruption unit for almost a year. Something my then boss used to say goes to the heart of the point the Chairman is making, namely, the three Ps principle - print the legislation; put it up for everybody to see and pray to God that it works.

Over the past 20 years in Ireland, our response to ethical breaches by people in public life has been to bring in legislation, some of which is the best in the world. However, this must be complemented by other actions. Let me use the analogy of shoes. We have the best shoes in the world by way of comparison with ethical legislation. They are designed with beautiful leather and are carefully stitched by craftsmen. However, shoes are no good unless we tie our shoelaces. In Ireland, we often trip over the small things. We trip over our shoelaces and despite having a very good legislative framework, small things allow the perception exist that public figures are in public life for their own interest. That is not fair to the majority of people in public life.

These shoelaces are issues such as leadership, enforcement or issues regarding challenging ethical breaches when they occur. From personal experience over the past number of years, these further actions have not taken place. There has not been leadership. If a Taoiseach makes a decision to stand up for ethics, but rings a bell instead, this sends out a message to the people that ethics only apply to certain people. This is unfair to the majority of politicians and to the legislators who put this amazing legislation together, who govern it and wear this great pair of shoes, while we trip over and over again over our shoelaces because of small issues that allow this to happen. A by-election is taking place for the Seanad on Friday and a small issue such as this could be something as simple as appointing an individual to a board so that he fulfils the obligations required to become a Seanad candidate. Actions like this do an enormous disservice to public life in Ireland. This is not just about how we perceive clientelism, but about leadership and enforcement.