Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin is clear on where it stands and whose interests it represents. Sinn Féin wants to dismantle the golden circles that for too long have been protected by the establishment parties. Sinn Féin wants accountability and transparency in public life. While Fianna Fáil may wish to tackle perceptions, Sinn Féin wants to break the corrupting culture of cronyism that has done this State and our people such a grave disservice.

We will support this Bill as we want an end to corporate donations but we also want root-and-branch reform in political life. We want to see an end to political appointments to State boards. There needs to be a transparent system of appointments to State bodies in which all vacancies are advertised, open to the general public to apply and full membership of boards easily accessed. Remuneration should only be what is required by appointees to carry out their responsibilities on the board. Giving the relevant Oireachtas committee a role in scrutinising appointments to State boards is necessary but not enough. The committees must have the final say and veto in these appointments. Anyone on a State body who acts in a proven way against the public interest should be removed from it.

Sinn Féin wants to end the culture of excessive high pay and pensions for the very few at the top. Of 300,000 public sector workers, just 7,000 people earn over €100,000 a year. The majority in the public sector earn a modest income and those salaries must be protected. Those at the very top cannot continue to be sheltered from the kind of necessary root-and-branch reform of public life. It is a scandal that the salaries of those in high office can often be 14 times the minimum wage. The Minister for Social Protection, for example, earns nearly 18 times what a social welfare recipient gets. How can it be acceptable that when a Deputy becomes a Minister, his or her salary more than doubles overnight?

We have called for a change in the law to allow for the impeachment or removal from the Dáil of any Deputy involved in corruption, deliberate misuse of public money or fraud. Whatever legislative changes are required must be made to go after and secure for the State the personal assets of those developers and bankers involved in NAMA and the bank bailouts.

Sinn Féin believes all political parties must publish an independently audited set of accounts each year including income and expenditure accounts and a party balance sheet. This is a requirement up the road in the North and is a routine exercise Sinn Féin does every year. I am not trying to claim credit but to set it down as an established practice for every political party.

We want legislation introduced to prevent former Ministers or senior civil servants moving straight from Government Departments, taking insider knowledge with them, to bodies trying to wield influence over Government policies. We want to see the establishment of a register of lobbyists.

The time for ending of corporate donations is long overdue. The Fine Gael-Labour Government has no excuse or reason to falter on this matter. It must act speedily and this Bill must be supported by all sides of the House. As critical an issue as corporate donations are, we would be gravely mistaken if we were to believe that by dealing with it alone we will have rehabilitated the political system, politicians and political parties. Sinn Féin believes other measures are necessary to build confidence in the political system among the public and to strengthen our democratic system.

On a separate matter raised earlier by Deputy Martin, I also believe the Government must make time for a discussion in the Dáil for the turn of events yesterday which saw a committee of the German Parliament scrutinise a document in respect of the Irish budget.

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