Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

The Mahon tribunal confirms what many people in the country had suspected for a long time, that is to say, a rotten political culture has dominated the State for the best part of three decades. It is not only about the Mahon tribunal, what it shows about the endemic corruption of the planning process and the fact that councillors from the main political parties were open for bribes by bagman working on behalf of developers, but it builds on the knowledge we sorely accumulated dating back to the beef tribunal and the other tribunals that have taken place since then. They show that the entire political culture of the State has been absolutely corrupted to a rotten state over a period of at least 30 years.

The Tánaiste might suggest that not all apples in the barrel were rotten. However, such is the extent of the corruption highlighted in the Mahon tribunal and the other tribunals and attendant reports that it is clear not that all apples in the barrel were rotten but that the barrel itself was rotten. The report of the tribunal makes clear that the political culture was absolutely rotten. Corruption, bribery, sleaze and greed were endemic in the political culture of the State for the past 30 years. Both of the major political parties which have dominated the State since its foundation are implicated to a considerable degree.

The legacy of this rotten political culture has been devastating for tens of thousands of families and citizens throughout the country during these years. One consequence, about which I hold particularly strong and angry views, relates to the issue of housing. One impact of the corruption of the planning process and the fact that so many councillors and politicians were in the pockets of developers was that the provision of social housing for the citizens who needed it essentially ground to a halt during this period while developers were allowed to run amok because they had politicians on the payroll. Private development driven purely by the profit and greed and greased by corruption was the order of the day. Consequently, even while we went through the greatest building boom in the history of the State, we ended up with more people on social housing lists than at any time previously. This is one particular sore point for me and, I suspect, for other Deputies. Tens of thousands of families witnessed apartment blocks and estates popping up everywhere. These developments made fortunes for the developers involved while many families were left rotting on housing lists for years and years. The privatisation of the housing market linked to this corruption had this social consequence for tens of thousands of families in the State. However, it is a great deal worse than that.

This rotten political culture has contributed directly to the economic catastrophe that has been visited on this State with all its horrendous consequences, such as mass unemployment, mass emigration and the devastation of our public services through austerity and cuts. This culture began with a cabal of developers and politicians corrupting the area of planning, for profit. This rotten cancer of corruption then spread into the financial system. One led to the other and a loop of corruption was set up between the political authorities, the greed-driven developers and the financial and banking system of the State. When this became apparent, it was institutionalised rather than punished. How did we deal with the discovery that the wealthy in this country were salting away money in offshore accounts, that politicians, including a Taoiseach, were being paid and corrupted by corporate interests and that the wealthy did not pay tax? First, we gave amnesties to reward them for the fact they did not pay tax. We then reduced their taxes. The answer to the fact that the rich did not want to pay tax was to ensure there were no taxes or only negligible taxes on them, with the consequence of the deficit problem we now have.

The Government castigates this side of the House and tells us we do not understand that the State has a big deficit problem. Why do we have that big problem? It is because the Government, primarily Fianna Fáil, but now the current Government which is doing nothing about the situation, reduced taxes on the wealthy. The Government has not reversed the decisions taken, because it agrees with them. It was also involved in previous Governments that gave tax amnesties to the wealthy who had been evading taxes. Will the Government do anything about it now? Will it raise the taxes of the rich? No, it will not. It does not believe in doing that. It does not believe in taxing the wealthy and that is why we have a deficit and that is the reason our public services are in pieces.

Fianna Fáil was at the heart of this rotten political culture. To be honest, I do not understand why Fianna Fail does not just shut up shop. It should disband, because this is not just about a few individuals. The record is appalling. It shows a culture of corruption from top to bottom of what was the biggest political party in the State, one which dominated the political life of this country over the past 30 years. It says it all that three taoisigh have been implicated in the findings of corruption spelt out in the Mahon report and in previous reports. Charles Haughey received £1 million over a three-year period from Ben Dunne which was paid into Ansbacher accounts. Some £5,000 a week was paid to him by Ben Dunne, who was rewarded with the fact that the trust status of Dunnes Stores, providing tax concessions, was never seriously addressed by the Government of the day. The consequence was that if that was the culture in which the leader of the party was involved and promoted, he was sending down the signal to the rest of the organisation that corruption was the way to do politics. It is spelt out clearly in the Mahon report that it does not just look at individual instances of corruption, but that this was the culture that existed.

Almost certainly, what is in the Mahon report is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the corruption that existed. Albert Reynolds knew about Tom Gilmartin's donations to Pádraig Flynn, but he did nothing whatsoever about them. Then, the denials by Bertie Ahern about the money he received, or claims to have been given in dig outs, were farcical. The Mahon tribunal rubbishes the claims regarding the €165,000 as fictional and fantastical explanations. There was also the fact that a former Minister for Finance, Ray Burke, is known to have taken tens of thousands from builders. I was asked by the people of Rossport and those involved in campaigning against the Shell pipeline to ask questions about his part in that. It is known that Ray Burke was involved in corruption and in accepting corrupt payments. He was also, coincidentally, the Minister who set up an unprecedented tax and licensing regime in the context of the exploration and development of our natural resources. Effectively, our gas and oil resources are given away to private companies when they are found. Again, there is no indication the current Government will do anything about this. We do not know the exact chain of events or whether there is a connection. However, when we know a Minister for Finance received corrupt payments at around the same period when he set up a tax and licensing regime which effectively gives away our natural resources to private multinational companies, we must ask serious questions. There was also the Galway tent. Also, Pádraig Flynn, the former Minister for the Environment, asked a developer for €50,000.

I do not know why the members of Fianna Fáil are not hanging their heads in shame. The current leader of Fianna Fáil also has serious questions to answer. I do not know the truth of the matter, but Fintan O'Toole raised some interesting questions in his article this week. We certainly know that the current leader of Fianna Fáil was around when all of this was going on. He was a Minister in the Government and did not speak out against it. Many of the Fianna Fáil Party who are still in this House were around and did not speak out against the corruption. They defended their party and held the party line rather than condemn the rotten culture of corruption that existed. Given the devastating consequences this has had for society, it is beyond me how Fianna Fáil can put itself forward with any credibility as a political opposition.

If Fianna Fáil has questions to answer, so too does Fine Gael. The issue of Denis O'Brien is at the heart of some of the questions Fine Gael must answer. I would like to hear Fine Gael's answer on this issue, because we have not heard it. The Moriarty tribunal stated clearly that in the context of the granting of the second mobile telephone licence in this State, inappropriate payments were made by Denis O'Brien to a Fine Gael Minister, resulting in Denis O'Brien making an enormous fortune and becoming a multibillionaire. At the same time, Denis O'Brien was making political contributions to Fine Gael. He was then seen standing beside the Taoiseach in the Stock Exchange at the St. Patrick's Day festivities. Clearly, he is still a friend of Fine Gael. He was also invited to the global economic forum in Dublin Castle. How can this happen when these questions remain to be answered? It has been clearly stated by Moriarty that these were inappropriate payments in the context of the granting of that licence. I find it beyond belief that Fine Gael has nothing to say about that or refuses to answer how it raised €3 million and who were the political donors that helped Fine Gael raise the €3 million war chest to win the last election. Will Fine Gael publish the list of its donors?

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