Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the three Deputies who have proposed this motion. It has just occurred to me to contrast this country and its deeply embedded culture of corruption with other countries that take more extreme measures against corruption. I suspect that if some of the offences we are talking about were committed in China, the offenders would be shot or beheaded or whatever they do in China when people commit offences of this sort. In Ireland, many of them are greeted as heroes. The real problem we have is not just the offenders themselves; it is ourselves as a people and our attitude to corruption. Some years ago, I attended a dinner in London at which the guest speaker was the former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald. After he had spoken, he was asked questions about the corruption that was rampant in Ireland at the time and news of which had reached England. A rather stuffy Tory at the back of the room put up his hand and asked Dr. FitzGerald how he tolerated all the corruption that was associated with people in his party and other parties. In response, Dr. FitzGerald said that the problem was not with the public representatives or politicians but with the electorate. The capacity we have as a people to constantly re-elect people who are associated with and, indeed, guilty of corruption is something we are going to have to face.

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