Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is all very well and quite right that we should condemn what has happened. However, we should remember the old maxim that we used to hear in connection with a former Taoiseach, Mr. Haughey, which was that he may have been a crook but he got things done. In other words, his behaviour did not really matter as long as he did things that mattered on the other side. Our tolerance for corruption is something we absolutely and totally refuse to face. We are going to have to face it, however. It is okay to condemn those who act corruptly and to try to set up agencies but we also need to stop tolerating politicians and others who are obviously corrupt and in some cases have been proven to be corrupt. We have a responsibility for that in this House. The way we have disposed of that responsibility in the past is completely and utterly inadequate and very cowardly. One solution, which is not inevitable but which is proposed almost every time a massive scandal erupts, is to set up a tribunal. I suggest that tribunals are proven to be vehicles of escape for corrupt people. They delay matters to such an extent, and kick these affairs so far down the road, that nothing ever really comes of them. They expose certain corrupt activities from time to time but nobody ever pays a price. They actually guarantee impunity. They underline impunity. They guarantee freedom for those who have committed corruption. We will see the terms of the Bill that is to be introduced next week but I doubt that it will tackle the serious underlying problem, which is not always what we saw on "Prime Time" the other night, awful as it was. The underlying problem is in ourselves. I would be very doubtful that those who are committing the sorts of crimes we saw on that programme will ever see the inside of a court. I would like to say one other thing? Do I have a minute left?

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