Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

As a new Deputy, elected in Dún Laoghaire I am saddened that my maiden speech to Dáil Éireann must address a scandal relating to disreputable political behaviour. I have spoken to many of my constituents in recent days and they want this matter dealt with as quickly as possible and the recommendations of the Moriarty report implemented as soon as possible. The events investigated in the report happened more than 20 years ago and everyone knows - even the dogs on the street - that the main protagonists, Deputy Lowry and Mr. O'Brien, are not telling the truth. People in my constituency beg us to move on from this scandal and get to the real issues that affect young people and families, namely, unemployment and emigration, mortgage repayments and arrears, mounting personal debt and the worry for families that they will be able to put food on the table at the end of the month.

During the past week we have heard horrendous criticism of Mr. Justice Moriarty. The remarks of Deputy Lowry and Mr. O'Brien are a very bad example to young people. It is not right that the integrity of our legal system and the Judiciary is treated with such disdain and derision. While Mr. Justice Moriarty is gagged in defending himself, we in Dáil Éireann must quickly set about implementing the Moriarty recommendations as a matter of urgency.

This corruption must never happen again. The people demand that the culture of politics changes utterly. This is not a time for cheap political point scoring. We, the Members of the 31st Dáil, must ensure that the type of corrupt behaviour outlined in the Moriarty report is not allowed to taint Irish politics again. During the general election the people made it known that they want political reform. The old politics which had such a corrosive effect on society is dead and buried and a new age has begun. That was made clear yesterday in the Taoiseach's speech when he outlined plans to ban corporate donations to political parties, reduce limits on donations to political parties, introduce a register of lobbyists and new rules governing lobbying, to create a whistleblowers charter and to reform the relationship between civil servants and Ministers. The parties, Ministers and Deputies who truly believe in new politics will be those who face these recommendations full-on and arrange for their implementation in legislation, rather than those who wish to debate scandals for political advantage. If the recommendations are not given due consideration by the Legislature, the whole purpose of a lengthy and costly public inquiry and the consequent report and recommendations will be lost.

There is much talk about political reform. The fact remains that the implementation of the tribunal's recommendations, or at least the due consideration thereof, is democracy. I hope the tribunal's recommendations will be dealt with by the Legislature in this House sooner rather than later.

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