Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Renua Ireland) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Justice Moriarty described the behaviour of Mr. O'Brien as "disgraceful" and "insidious". Those are the words of Mr. Justice Moriarty and they are the findings of the Moriarty tribunal. The purpose of the Bill is to implement the concrete recommendations of the tribunal's 2011 report. Unfortunately, however, there have been no consequences. A file has rested with the Director of Public Prosecutions for three years. The individual named in the Moriarty tribunal report has threatened and is proceeding to try to silence Parliament through the courts system. That the Taoiseach has left the Chamber is telling. We have not had a response either from the Taoiseach or the Government to defend the interests of this House, the Chamber of Deputies, which is being sued by the individual in question.

The Taoiseach may have left the Chamber but I have no doubt the Chief Whip will convey the following message to him. Given that there have not yet been any concrete, tangible consequences in the criminal sense for any of the individuals named in the Moriarty tribunal report, I hope the Taoiseach will make a clear commitment that no individual named in the report will be invited to make up the numbers to put a Government in office after the next election. That very clear statement of intent could be offered by the Taoiseach to show some degree of leadership. It would also go some way towards rebuilding trust in the political system and creating confidence that corrupt payments to politicians will never again be tolerated in this country. That is what the Bill is about.

I am pleased to recommend the Bill to the House. I look forward to it being debated in this Chamber and seeing the Government parties, which expressed outrage in 2011, supporting us in trying to ensure all the recommendations of the Moriarty tribunal report of 2011 are implemented. That would be a real sign of intent by the Government parties and Opposition.

See this speech in context