Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak this evening. Like so many people around the country, I watched the actions of some of the county councillors exposed by the "RTE Investigates" programme with shock and disgust. It is totally unacceptable for any public representative to use their position in public office for personal financial gain. There should be no place in public life for the kind of behaviour witnessed on the RTE programme this week. What annoys me most, apart from the pure greed displayed by the councillors, is the fact that this kind of behaviour by some can tarnish the reputation of the many fine councillors around the country. I work very closely with many councillors in my own constituency, such as John McGahon, Maria Doyle, Colm Markey, Richie Culhane, Oliver Tully and Dolores Minogue. These councillors are of the highest standard and work tirelessly and honestly for the people of Dundalk, Carlingford, Blackrock, Ardee and Dunleer, who elected them in the first place. As my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, has stated, "[t]here is not a state in the world, not even the most open democracy, that has succeeded in fully eliminating the greed, self-service and corruption of those few who abuse political office for their own gratification or enrichment". I also agree with him when he states:

The vast majority of our elected representatives, whether in this building or in council chambers nationwide, are in it for the right reasons. Their service to their communities, to the State and to the public good must not be allowed to be tarnished by the carry-on of the few. This carry-on is absolutely unacceptable.

I agree with him wholeheartedly that this kind of behaviour is disgusting and cannot be tolerated. We must also remember that this is not a victimless crime and victims of this crime include families whose homes are flooded because a corrupted vote resulted in housing being built on a rezoned flood plain and residents of areas left without basic community facilities because a planned town centre was shelved in favour of a privately developed shopping centre. I am very strongly of the opinion that those found to be using their position as a public representative for personal gain, whether financial or otherwise, should have the full rigours of the law used against them. Those found guilty of using public office for personal financial gain should be banned from running for public office in the future and, depending on the seriousness of the offence, should also be jailed. Under the Companies Act, a person can be banned from acting as a director of a limited company if they have not acted in accordance with company law. Why not use the same principle for public representatives? How many times have we seen a public representative exposed for abusing their position and yet they are re-elected and in some cases use the fact that they were caught as an election issue? This is wrong and should not be allowed to happen.

After the exposure of the councillors on the "RTE Investigates" programme, I would like to think the local authorities involved will now take the action necessary to ensure this sort of behaviour will not happen in the future.

I note that shortly after the programme was aired, one of the councillors resigned from his party. What I do not understand is why he did not resign his seat. How come he felt bound to resign from his party yet did not feel he had to resign his council seat?

I also welcome the fact that the Garda is examining the programme to see whether any action is required on its part. One of the main issues addressed in the "RTE Investigates" programme was that of preplanning application consultations. Section 247 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 sets out comprehensive procedures for such consultations which, the Act specifically states, should not in any way prejudice the final decision of the planning authority and it requires that records must be kept. Furthermore, it is already a criminal offence for a member or an official of a planning authority to take or seek any favour, benefit or payment, direct or indirect, in connection with any such consultation. It was quite clear from the programme that section 247 of the Act is being abused.

Moving forward, how can we ensure that the greed and corruption that has been evident in recent times is eliminated from Irish politics? The Government, since taking office in 2011, has introduced various legislation, including the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013, the Companies Act 2014, the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012, the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 and the Freedom of Information Act 2014. I note also that over the coming weeks we will see a number of Bills before the House, including the proposed public sector standards Bill and the proposed corruption Bill.

I would like to put on the record of the House my complete disgust at what we saw on the "RTE Investigates" programme this week. There is no place in Irish politics, at local or national levels, for any person who seeks to turn what is for most of us an opportunity to serve the public interest into a self-serving, money-grabbing, corrupt practice. This Government has done much to reform the legislative and regulatory landscape. There is more to be done, and in the coming weeks we will see publication of further key reforms in the area of planning, public standards and corruption law. We will continue to work to ensure that we have better laws, better enforcement, and a renewed culture of honesty and trust that will leave no hiding place for those who would betray the public trust.

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