Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)

The Mahon findings are disturbing on many levels. The full extent of his analysis is well captured by the opinion piece of the historian Dermot Ferriter in The Irish Times of Monday, 26 March under the telling caption "State now morally as well as ethically bankrupt". Naturally, these are not separate conditions; they are altogether entwined. The endemic, systemic culture identified by the Mahon tribunal during the late 1980s and early 1990s was one source of the property and lending bubble that brought the country to its knees.

The most striking aspect of the Mahon findings is the suggestion that those engaged in corruption had a sense of impunity and invincibility and that there was little appetite on the part of the State's political or investigative authorities to combat this effectively or to sanction those involved. In the words of Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Belatedly, Mahon's comments prompt the old Roman question: "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Who will guard the guardians? This is the telling question.

The central question we in this House must ask is whether anything has changed since the completion of the beef tribunal? It is now over 20 years since the completion of that tribunal, but the only sanction that followed it was the bizarre charging of the journalist - now a Senator - Susan O'Keeffe in 1995 for contempt of court for not revealing her sources in unearthing the scandal at that time. Twelve months on from the Moriarty tribunal, can we be satisfied or sure that anything has changed or that any sanctions have been applied? We need more from Government than the customary passing of tribunal reports to the DPP, the Garda and the Revenue Commissioners. I acknowledge the sincerity of the Tánaiste when he stated on Tuesday that these organs of the State would be brought in to full use immediately, but we need something more telling than this. We need updates on progress and prosecutions.

Likewise, four years after the collapse of our banking sector, what sanctions have been applied to those responsible. Many rank and file bank officials face redundancy, but what sanctions have been visited on the directors, senior managers and regulators at the time? On 25 January this year, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly was driven to remark that he was taken aback to hear that only 11 gardaí were seconded to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement to work with the eight officials there on the investigation into the largest and most serious investigation in the State's history. I cited the remarks of Mr. Justice Peter Kelly in the High Court last May when we debated the issue of white collar crime here in the House. At the time he said he was extending the investigation by the Director of Corporate Enforcement and gardaí into Anglo Irish Bank to the end of July, as the progress of the two-year inquiry was "not at all satisfactory". A six-month extension had been sought. This was reported in The Irish Times of 11 May.

Mr. Justice Kelly also strongly criticised the failure to mount any prosecutions in other commercial court cases involving judgments for millions of euro, despite prima facie evidence and admissions of criminal wrongdoing, where papers to that effect had been sent years previously by him to the authorities. He stated: "This is not a desirable state of affairs." He also said the apparent failure to investigate thoroughly, yet efficiently and expeditiously, possible criminal wrongdoing in the commercial and corporate sectors did nothing to instil confidence in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, when giving judgment and refusing an application for a six-month extension of the Anglo investigation, he said that he would extend the inquiry only to July 28, when he expected "much progress" to have been achieved. He warned that if a further extension was sought in July, he would have to be given a detailed update on progress, including what happened to material sent by the investigators to the DPP's office in December and March. He said the collapse of Anglo had had profound and serious consequences for the economic well-being of the State and its citizens, had caused hardship to many small shareholders who invested in it in good faith and had played no small part in seriously damaging Ireland's business reputation throughout the world. The Mahon report reflects the statements of Mr. Justice Kelly 12 months ago.

This time around, I suggest the Taoiseach refer the Mahon report to the investigating bodies and that he also consider the establishment of a new investigative regulator who will have the power to audit the progress of the various investigations. It is not good enough that, as we know now from the various tribunals, the operations of the State's investigative functions are so shrouded in secrecy and so unaccountable to the citizenry. Due to the division of responsibility between the Garda, which is charged to investigate, and the DPP, who is charged to prosecute, citizens cannot see where proceedings are being delayed. This opaqueness and lack of transparency leads to a general lack of confidence that timely sanctions will be applied. This sends a terrible message that corruption pays. Then we wonder why, in Judge Mahon's words, corruption is so "endemic and systemic".

I wish to note the Mahon report's commendations of some politicians. As Deputy Dowds said, it seemed that corruption extended across the political spectrum, but we are very fortunate that some politicians were commended. I will give credit where credit is due. The Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, and the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, are mentioned in Judge Mahon's report on pages 1068 and 1579 respectively. He commends them on the probity they showed in refusing developers' donations in 1992. It is fortunate they took that stand. If it came to light that anybody of that status was involved, even in a minor fashion, it would reflect badly on the country at this time. I also commend former Deputy Trevor Sargent and Mr. Tom Gilmartin who courageously stood against corruption at the time, which has led to the exposure of the whole despicable affair.

In spite of these commendable individual actions, the corruption train gathered speed among others. In order to rid the country of the culture of corruption, we must properly resource and independently audit the investigative functions of the State. Had, for example, Mr. Tom Gilmartin's original complaint been properly investigated at the time it was made by the Garda, we might have saved ourselves over €300 million, the cost to date of the tribunal. There are key lessons to learn for the future and let us hope we learn from this episode.

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