Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

This debate is not about searching for a head on a plate but about ensuring that we have proper standards in Irish political life. This affair is about facts of legitimate public interest. It is about the fact that the Taoiseach took gifts from businesses and businessmen, that only ten days ago he misrepresented the established facts on Clare FM and has attempted to avoid answering legitimate questions on the matter ever since, that, as Minister for Finance, he secured payments for personal benefit and that he has transgressed ethical standards that a Minister or head of Government would have to follow in Scandinavia, Germany, the UK, the USA or any other developed country.

Faced with these facts last week, the Taoiseach's colleagues in Fianna Fáil seemed unsure of whether he was an asset or a liability. One Fianna Fáil Deputy was quoted as saying "I'm baffled and I don't know what to think." Only one went so far as to admit that the Taoiseach was compromised, but then, on mature reflection, he changed his mind. On this side of the House, we have given the Taoiseach every opportunity to resolve the issues, which are entirely of his own making. As the Green Party has a sense of fair play, we wanted to listen to him, but so far we are not impressed.

This debate is about trust in politics. It is about people faced with lifelong mortgages being impoverished to pay for the speculative profits that the Taoiseach allowed a small group of developers to accrue. Shame on the Taoiseach for being beholden to these vested interests. We cannot allow cynicism about our democratic system to grow. Shame on the Taoiseach for undermining the people's trust and for bringing the office of Taoiseach into disrepute.

This debate is about living and working according to the standards that the Taoiseach purported to hold and the good name of this country. Fundamentally, this debate is about right and wrong. The Ethics in Public Life Act may not have existed in 1994 but ethics certainly did. What the Taoiseach did in taking money from businesses and businessmen was and is totally inappropriate and improper. It was unethical and wrong. Most seriously, he has undermined his leadership by surrendering his moral authority. How can he be expected to bring to book the Ministers who serve with him? They will ask, "Who are you to set standards?" In addressing the question of whether what the Taoiseach did was right, I am struck by the fact that not one of his Ministers said that what he did was right. His deputy leader says he is "not incorrect", which is clearly the formulation of a lawyer and, as a defence, is both weak and irrelevant to this debate.

It must be noted that the Taoiseach is not the only person to have shown himself to be ethically compromised in the course of this affair. The Progressive Democrats have shown themselves to be now more interested in clinging to power than in standards in public office. Meanwhile, Government parties and other parties in this House continue to accept corporate donations, leaving themselves beholden to corporate interests.

The Taoiseach has three options by which he can show some leadership. He can resign. By his own standards, which he set out in 1997 and which he has applied to other office holders, he would have gone. If I was in the Taoiseach's position, I would have had no option but to resign. Alternatively, he can go to the people and give them the choice of whose ethics and political culture they want running this country.

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