Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Indeed, the ethos in the British Parliament is that if one is a perjurer and a Minister, one does resign. It is different from the ethos we have in this House, which is to batten down the hatches, protect one's position and not to regard one's self as accountable. Is it any wonder this Government not only is opposed to the Labour Party Bill, but has no appetite for a constitutional referendum?

Why do we need a constitutional referendum? We need one for another reason - the general public has lost faith in the capacity of this House to fully hold people accountable. Generally, they cannot understand why our regulatory authorities failed to such an extent that we had a banking disaster. The general public wants to know what advice was being given by departmental officials to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. Which disastrous decision was his sole responsibility and which was informed by others? We are entitled to know this in the context of the economic collapse with which we are confronted.

I revert to my point, namely, that we do not do accountability. It is time we in this Parliament did accountability. It is time we put to the people a referendum to facilitate full and proper inquiries being held. In this context, we should not inquire into issues and never hold anyone truly accountable for failure. Had the Abbeylara judgment been made before the DIRT inquiry, the latter would never have occurred.

We need to reform the way the Parliament operates root and branch. We need a different ethos, but we will not have it until the party opposite, which is more interested in self-service than public service, finds itself on the benches on this side of the House and the Fine Gael Party has an opportunity to blow the winds of change through the corridors of power and to put to the people the type of constitutional proposal required to reintroduce into our parliamentary democracy a true concept of accountability for Ministers and those who work in the public service and semi-State bodies for the disasters that have befallen this country.

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