Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

For their own private interests, the Green Party Deputies are using their position in the hope that they will benefit at the next general election. We all do it and let us be honest about it. Therefore, they should not get up on their high horse about corruption. We need to remove the opportunities that exist and three things have been done to achieve this. First, the inquiry had to be set up and that has been done. Second, the defamation laws had to be reformed and that has been done. People were blowing the whistle in the early 1990s and they were intimidated off the pitch by the threat of legal action. Third, a raft of electoral reforms were put in place.

We must be constantly vigilant. We must be clear that we condemn all corrupt planning practices. My party has been in power and opportunities have arisen as a result of that. Therefore, we must be clear that we will not tolerate such corruption. The defamation laws represent the next step in moving Ireland away from its sad history of corruption, especially in Dublin. There is too much of a burden of proof on the person who is alleged to have defamed another person. The law is too restrictive and it needs to be changed. There is no sense in what the Green Party is suggesting and it is unusual that it has turned down the opportunity to introduce a Private Members' Bill as it has done proudly done in the past. I support the Government amendment.

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