Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

The Mahon tribunal is banana republic stuff. Those who held office ran the planning system as if it was a commercial enterprise that functioned solely for their private profit. Developers colluded with politicians to allow the private exploitation of the State and the public of Ireland are paying the price. Last week the Labour Party stated it has a proud record of standing up and speaking out against what has now been proven by the Mahon tribunal report to have been corrupt practices. It continued to sing its own praises because it expelled a councillor in 1993, it dealt with the issues as they arose and had what it termed a "proud record in planning matters". It used the word "proactive" to describe itself in reference to dealing with such matters. Labour was certainly proactive when it came to supporting the block by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, of any independent review into planning irregularities in Dublin and Cork city councils, and Galway, Meath, Cork and Carlow county councils since it went in to government.

The Mahon tribunal dealt with only one local authority. We have no notion of what else exists and the Government has a duty to ensure that we find out. As the Mahon report stated:

Corruption thrives in shadows and darkness. Consequently anti-corruption measures must focus on ensuring transparency and accountability in public life. Ignorance and apathy are both corruption catalysts. Therefore, anti-corruption measures must be supported from the top-down and from the bottom up.

Part of these anti-corruption measures must be finding out what went on elsewhere, because otherwise the perception of political corruption being pervasive will call into question the legitimacy of the political institutions of the State.

We all remember what happened with the Centre for Public Inquiry. This non-governmental body was established in 2005 to investigate matters of public importance in Irish political, public and corporate life. Frank Connolly was executive director, and the Members of this House should praise his work, considering it was his investigations in to former Minister Ray Burke that led to the establishment of the planning and payments tribunal and the Morris tribunal. Following a smear campaign conducted against Frank Connolly and the centre itself by the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, the rabid right-wing attack dog of the Fianna Fáil-led Government, and helped by the Sunday Independent, which was no stranger in attempting to undermine the Mahon tribunal, the centre was forced to close when its funding was withdrawn by Chuck Feeney of Atlantic Philanthropies.

Chuck Feeney met the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in August of 2005 during which they discussed the work of the centre and its executive director, including - presumably - the allegations about Mr. Connolly, who has not been charged with anything. The final nail in the Centre for Public Inquiry's coffin was the threat of legal action on a report it was preparing which raised very serious questions as to why the State-owned Dublin Port Company did not go through tender procedures before going in to a joint venture with private operators. The Dublin Port Company was, of course, chaired by then Councillor Joe Burke, a close associate of none other than the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. Bertie Ahern's contributions to the Mahon tribunal were less than truthful and yet he still arrogantly hawks his protests in the media about how he was hard done by by the tribunal. The people of this country are hard done by. More than €300 million was spent with no tangible results. Heads should roll but the people are still waiting to see if they will roll. It is hard to imagine heads rolling judging by the history of previous Governments in this country.

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