Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

This report is necessary, timely and extremely clear. It is damning, shocking and forensic. Above all, it is credible. The greatest respect we can give this report is to implement a programme of fundamental reforms to ensure the events outlined in its pages do not recur. We do not need gestures, verbiage or crass political narratives but action, delivery, legislation and follow through, reform on firm foundations, new norms and new demands of us all. Earlier Deputy Finian McGrath said corruption and sleaze in politics is wrong. Of course it is wrong in every part of society. That is the reason we change our laws when we become aware of issues in order to ensure they do not recur.

This House must show a determination that concrete change flows from the events exposed in the 700 pages of this report. Our bottom line is that we must shape a political system which lives up to the values and expectations of ordinary decent people. That is why we introduced the Standards in Public Office Acts.

Deputy Rabbitte referred to whisteblowers. Section 5 of the Act provides immunity for a person who makes a complaint in good faith and protection against any issue surfacing. It provides that where a person in good faith makes a complaint, no cause of action shall lie against that person. We looked at putting the whole issue of whistleblowers into a single Act but the strong advice from those from whom we take it, the Civil Service and the Attorney General, was that rather than put it into one single Act, it should be done on a sectoral basis. That has happened ever since, based on what was in the Standards in Public Office Act.

We introduced statutory codes of practice and guidelines for officeholders and oversight for independent standards in the Standards in Public Office Commission. We introduced electoral Acts which impose high standards regarding political donations and expenditure. Through these reforms we have fundamentally altered, updated and reformed the old procedures. That was the most appropriate response to the events outlined in the Moriarty report. This process of reform, under way before publication of the report, will continue. The report strengthens our resolve in that respect.

The Government has moved comprehensively to deal with the legacy of past reform through financial companies and taxation systems. The fundamental restructuring of the Revenue Commissioners created a dedicated investigations and prosecutions division to drive stronger anti-evasion operations and to bring prosecutions in cases of tax and duty evasion.

Other measures include granting extensive additional statutory powers to Revenue, advancing codes of practice to guard against conflicts of interest, establishing the Financial Regulator as a single financial regulatory authority specifically mandated to protect consumers and better reporting of financial irregularities between State agencies. The Financial Regulator is now empowered to report the suspicious proceeds of tax evasion and all forms of money laundering to the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners. We imposed a proactive obligation on the Financial Regulator to report all suspicious transactions. We introduced an ambitious programme to update and modernise the Companies Act and went ahead with strengthening the prevention of corruption legislation, including in it, as the Taoiseach already mentioned, a presumption of corruption for non-disclosure of a significant political donation in particular circumstances. This sort of programme and these kind of forward-looking and concrete reforms is the appropriate response to the Moriarty report.

Some of the hardest reading in this report relates to the abuse of the party leader's account. The events outlined in this report have brought about a radical overhaul of the party leader's account system. The report acknowledges that it is noteworthy that the Taoiseach has insisted on reforming that system. Within Fianna Fáil, the party auditors must now present the audited accounts of the party to its national trustees, treasurers and senior party officials. This money must be spent for the good of the party. Under Deputy Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach, we have changed the legislation governing such accounts. The old system where party leaders had huge discretion in the use of the account has been changed.

Today, the proper application of the leader's parliamentary allowance is spelled out. We have defined the meaning of expenses arising from parliamentary activities and demand an audited statement of the expenditure from the allowance. We demand that the statement be given to the Standards in Public Office Commission. We have cleared away the previous ambiguities. We did not have to wait for this report. We acted as was proper and on the demand of the people. If further reforms are necessitated by the findings of this report or the final Moriarty report, we stand ready to implement them. The greatest respect we can give to this report is to implement a programme of fundamental reforms to ensure the events outlined in these pages do not recur.

Throughout the 1990s and the early part of this decade, a profound social, economic and cultural modernisation occurred throughout this country. As part of that process, many of the old elites and stratifications have been questioned, weakened and put in their proper place, not by politicians or commentators but by ordinary people. The relationship between the people and the church, politicians, banks and even the paramilitaries has changed utterly. Particular triggers and catalysts, such as the Eamonn Casey affair, the murder of Robert McCartney, the events outlined in this report or the banking scandals, set out profound shifts in the relationship between the public and these groups. These shifts have been overwhelmingly positive and are a sign of a confident, independent people with positive values who are leading, not being led, and are rejecting corruption, hypocrisy and the blind acceptance of authority. Our programme of reform is attempting to create the system to live up to those values and to give the people the standards in public office they expect and deserve from those whose sole purpose, as Deputy Finian McGrath said, is to serve the people.

I do not believe one can contort the complex life and character of Charles Haughey into a single political narrative. Those who have tried have not been credible. The public understand the complexities because he was neither all hero nor all villain, neither all good nor all bad. What the Taoiseach — the president of Fianna Fáil — said at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fhéis in 1997 and at the grave of Mr. Haughey was true, proper and right. People understand the complexities of the man. Let us leave the rest to historians. Let us focus on the future rather than the past, but let us learn from the past on the job of reform and building a system that lives up to the values of decent, ordinary Irish people.

Deputy Kenny was incorrect in saying earlier that my party did not condemn wrongdoing. We did condemn it every time it was proven. I very much look forward to the later report of Mr. Justice Moriarty and hope that, at that stage, we will have further reforming to do in this House.

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