Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 2014 the European Union published its first anti-corruption report, which examined issues of transparency, public procedure policies and bribing across EU member states. According to the report, corruption related risk due to close ties between politicians and industry continues to be a cause for concern in Ireland. The report further noted that the adoption of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012 needed vast improvement. A major legal grey area regarding political donations relates to the number of times corporations and individuals can donate. The current legislation tackles the amount donated in a single transaction rather than the overall amount one can donate. The report further found that legislation regarding election and referendum campaigns remains weak. Many of the Irish anti-corruption laws were overlapping and contradicted each other, leading to legal difficulties and loopholes.

A large portion of Ireland's anti-corruption laws are still based on the United Kingdom's prevention of corruption Acts. Problems regarding outdated and conflicting legislation are affecting the capacity to prosecute and punish corruption efficiently. We do not have, for example, an independent urban planning regulator with the capacity and the powers to investigate systemic problems arising in local government. Indeed, the findings of the report of the EU are that although Ireland is tackling political corruption to a certain extent, it remains a major problem.

Back in the 1990s we started off with the beef tribunal and a host of tribunals followed it. The tribunals found evidence of political corruption but very few politicians were criminally convicted or charged. In response to the McCracken tribunal, the Moriarty tribunal was established in 1997 and this exposed corrupt payments, donations and gifts to prominent Irish political figures by businesses and large corporations to win favouritism and influence. The Mahon tribunal was the most expensive and longest running in this country and it shook the Irish political system, highlighting the dysfunction and corruption of the political culture as a whole. I fully support this very good and logical motion and all the proposals put forward by the Social Democrats group.

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