Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It makes a very depressing vista, and who would have thought after all the tribunals, the political scandals and the exposure of the cynical and self-serving behaviour of a coterie of councillors, Deputies and even Ministers that we would find ourselves back where we started when it comes to unethical and corrupt behaviour by some politicians? Who would have thought the culture of the brown envelope, honed to a fine art most spectacularly by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, has once again reared its ugly head? I would have hoped, and the people of Ireland might have hoped, this was a thing of the past. Who could have dreamt it is still as much part of the present as it was of the past? For those who might have thought and hoped we had turned a corner in the ethical standards of politicians, and for those who thought this parish pump style political rot that had become a byword for Fianna Fáil local and national governance was but a distant memory, how devastating it must be for our electorate to discover it is alive and well and seemingly going unchallenged.

I think what most people find most shocking is that such brazen corruption of the type so graphically exposed in the recent RTE programme exists in an almost flippant and casual way. The ordinary voter would have, in all sincerity, hoped after the debacle of previous Fianna Fáil Governments mired in endemic brown envelope corruption and the promise of a new beginning by this Government that we would have left all of this behind. Should we really have expected this in real terms, particularly from a Government that has so generously rewarded the rich and punished the poor, the homeless and the single parent families? It is a Government that gives breaks to the golden circles and the media oligarchs. We would probably need to be delusional, honestly, to believe the Government would really represent a break with the corrupt politics of the past or, indeed, represent a new beginning for the country. Clearly, this is not the case.

With a wearisome sense of déjà vuwe are faced once again with the scandal of public representatives making demands for clandestine payments, and sure why would they not do it? Where is the sanction that would prevent such atrocious behaviour? Where is the punishment for those who have behave in such a delinquent manner? Can we point to any real tangible examples of corrupt politicians getting their comeuppance? The answer to this is "No", and unfortunately so for our democratic system. The example of the Haugheys, the Lowrys and the Flynns of this world is, perhaps, a beacon of hope for all those who want to use the political system for their own selfish gain to line own pockets and to do so, it seems, with impunity.

We should recall that corruption is not a victimless crime. The houses built on flood plains clearly show that the victims of corruption are ordinary families for whom these corrupt politicians clearly have nothing but contempt. Today is international anti-corruption day, and I can think of no more appropriate day on which we deliberate and debate this subject. The costs of corruption are evident. Corruption undermines democratic institutions and stunts economic development. Something with which we in particular should be concerned is that corruption makes the public, all of our voters, cynical about politicians and politics, and who can blame them?

As we stand here this evening, the question and challenge for the Government and the political system is to make, at last, a real and definitive stand against corruption, set aside self-interest and support an anti-corruption agency and an independent planning regulator with proper teeth and resources, and ensure there are sanctions, penalties and consequences for those who behave in a corrupt manner and who, by extension, corrupt the organs and systems of the State.

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