Áine Collins (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Mahon tribunal report which has confirmed what many people have believed for a long time, namely, there has been corruption throughout our political system from the top to the bottom, which affected every level of Irish society. It does not reflect well on our country that the people who had the most power were corrupt. It also does not reflect well on politics or politicians. It does not reflect well on our society that this corruption was, as stated in the Mahon report "widely known and widely tolerated". People's trust in our political system and in politicians is badly damaged. I will not go into the "who did what" as we have all read and heard enough about that in recent days.

It is shocking that it took 15 years for us to be told something that everybody knew. The question that must now be asked is: was it worth it? Completion of the inquiry took 15 years and cost more than €300 million, and the report of which runs to 3,250 pages. The sum of €300 million is a lot of money. How many nursing hours, cystic fibrosis units and schools could have been provided, built or upgraded with that money? How many businesses could have been supported to create the many jobs now needed? Was it worth it? If will only have been worth it if we learn from it. We must make changes to our political systems, society and attitudes. We cannot tolerate this type of behaviour in future. We must implement the Mahon tribunal's recommendations with immediate effect.

We teach our children from an early age that lying is not acceptable, yet we are told nothing but lies and half-truths were told to the Mahon tribunal, which is appalling, particularly when those lies and half truths came from someone who held the highest office in the land, which position should mean something. It meant a lot to me to be elected in the 2011 general election. For me, it meant the people in Cork North-West trusted me to represent them. It will take some time before people will again trust politicians.

All of us in this House have a responsibility to try to repair the damage that has been done and to ensure this never happens again. Many other Members of this House who, like me, were not previously politicians have all now been tarnished by what has happened. It is imperative that we implement the recommendations of the Mahon report. We need tighter rules on political donations and more transparency.

Politicians and other officeholders who are found to be corrupt must be taken to task for their actions. We must address the issue of pension payments for politicians and public representatives. I welcome that the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, intends to legislate to ensure this behaviour will never again be tolerated by politicians or public representatives.

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