John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I listened carefully to the contributions made by many of the new Deputies who would have been very young at the time the events in question were going on and had no association whatsoever with the political culture and the process in place then. I did not know where to start in my contribution. When I look back on 1979 when I was first elected to Kilkenny Borough Council, if I had been told then that all of this referred to in the report was going on in politics either locally or nationally, I would not have believed it. In my time both on the borough and county councils, I served with people from Fianna Fáil and other political parties who gave their time to public service. It was a job they were elected to do on behalf of their communities which they took seriously. They also took the political engagement and their participation in their political parties seriously while doing it with pride. That was the politics that I came into, enjoyed and to which I committed myself. I do not know what happened in the course of time that changed much of that.

The report from the Mahon tribunal sets out what happened in the political system and administration, as a beginning, in Dublin - I am not saying it did not happen in other areas - events of which I am ashamed. I never thought it could happen but it did. From a public service view, when one reads the report it is shocking that in some way this was not arrested when it began. It has contaminated and corrupted the whole political system, casting a bad reflection and doubt on each and every one of us in politics. Arising from the recommendations of the Moriarty and Mahon tribunal reports, we will have to work on legislation to ensure this will never happen again, either locally or nationally.

From my party's perspective, I am also ashamed of what happened with every party leader and Taoiseach involved in the tribunal and what went wrong with corruption in the State. Ordinary and decent members of the Fianna Fáil Party who wanted to make a contribution have been betrayed. As public representatives and ordinary individuals, when we made presentations to Ministers at the time in question, we showed them respect, not knowing the extent of corruption and activities in which they and other members at parliamentary and council level were engaged.

I appeared before the Mahon tribunal for all but two minutes. One would not want one's name mentioned in the same line as a tribunal of inquiry. Some of the reporting has been lazy - I will not say inaccurate - in the context of how it is portrayed for different people who are uncomfortable about the fact they had to attend the tribunal.

I want to join with the House in acknowledging that the Garda, Criminal Assets Bureau, Revenue, or any other arm of State deemed necessary to be involved, need to be brought into action quickly arising from the report's findings. It must be clearly displayed to the public that we are about our business and setting about ensuring those who have been proved of wrongdoing will be brought to justice. The public also wants to see the political system becoming more transparent and honest with them.

From the perspective of the Fianna Fáil Party, we must do a large amount of work to rebuild trust with the public and our own membership. We must ensure protocols and regulations are in place that will display to the public that we can rebuild a political party for which many people were elected to office on the basis of good public service and nothing else. I acknowledge it was wrong of those involved in the activities in question and so corrupt of them in the terms of the money that was taken. In the context of reform and new legislation, there is a role for the register of friendly societies and for legislation affecting political parties, legislation which has not been reformed since the late 19th century. In Canada and other places, reforming legislation in this area has been put in place to great effect to ensure political parties become more transparent. I acknowledge the very poor display by Fianna Fáil personalities down through the years.

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