Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I take it from the Taoiseach's reply to Deputy Kenny that the Government intends to proceed with the Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007. When might it proceed, particularly in light of comments to the media yesterday by Deputy Cuffe who said that the Green Party would be looking for more transparency and a lowering of the threshold rather than an increase in the threshold in the two cases the Taoiseach mentioned, which is from €650 to €2,000 for a gift and the privacy limit for shareholdings is from €13,000 to €20,000? Is the Taoiseach in a position to confirm whether there have been representations from the Green Party in this regard? I note the Government Whip mentioned there had been no representations from the Green Party in respect of this. In light of all the tribunals and the difficulties experienced by people in public life, does the Taoiseach not agree there is a public demand to reduce these thresholds and for more transparency and openness? That is the direction in which we should be going rather than in the opposite direction.

See this speech in context