Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and Deputies on all sides for their contributions to this debate.

We have much to be proud of in Ireland at present. Businesses are growing and creating new jobs. The deficit is being eliminated and the economy is expanding. Despite all of that, however, public trust in government is at an all-time low. This year's Edelman trust barometer shows that public trust in institutions in Ireland is second from the bottom of the 27 countries assessed. Trust in business has fallen since last year, as has trust in the media, government officials and regulators. Why is that? It is that for all the growth, there is a whiff that things are not quite right. People do not believe we are all on a level playing field; they believe there are insiders and everybody else. Nobody sees any accountability or consequences for some of the things that happen.

An experiment was carried out in New York city a few years ago. A car was parked on a street to see how long it would take for somebody to break into it. It was first parked on a well maintained street and then it was parked on a street with several broken windows. It will be no surprise to hear that the car was broken into far more quickly on the street with the broken windows. Anybody who maintains a public park will confirm that if there is already vandalism and graffiti happening in the park, it will be repeated quickly. However, if it is cleaned up, there will be much less damage. This is because we all react to our environment. We are more likely to break the law if we believe that other people are breaking it. We are also more likely to break the law if we believe that the chances of being caught and penalised are slim.

This lack of accountability exists in Ireland. In response to serious allegations of insider trading relating to the Siteserv deal, Deputy Catherine Murphy contacted the Stock Exchange and asked it to investigate. The Stock Exchange said it was not its jobs and that she should go to the Central Bank. Deputy Catherine Murphy contacted the Central Bank and asked it to investigate but was informed that it was not its job and that she should contact the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement. She did that but the office said there was nothing to investigate. To this day, no case in respect of insider trading has been taken in Ireland.

The agencies in Ireland with responsibility for tackling corruption are dispersed and under-resourced, as is evident from Deputy Catherine Murphy's attempts to bring serious allegations to the right authorities. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has numerous cases of alleged anti-competitive and cartel behaviour but it does not have the resources to investigate them. Judge Cregan recently reported that he had neither the power nor the resources required to investigate the large IBRC transactions he was asked to examine. Nowhere is the fragmented nature of the State's response to corruption better illustrated than in the Government's amendment. Last night, the Minister of State referred to the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act, the Companies Act, the Electoral (Amendment) Act, the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act, the Protected Disclosures Act, the Regulation of Lobbying Act, the Freedom of Information Acts, the criminal justice Acts, the public sector standards Bill and the planning and development (amendment) (No. 2) Bill. That is a great deal of legislation but there is no investigation, no enforcement and no accountability. What is the point of the legislation?

The Government makes great play of things being done, but members of the public do not trust the Government. Why should they? In response to numerous, specific parliamentary questions to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, regarding the Siteserv deal, the Minister steadfastly refused to disclose that there were any concerns until Deputy Catherine Murphy followed them up with freedom of information requests. At that point, the concerns started to appear in the Minister's replies to the parliamentary questions. The Taoiseach sent a senior civil servant to the home of the Garda Commissioner late at night and maintains to this day that there was no intent to put any pressure on the Garda Commissioner to resign, which, surprisingly, he did the following morning. Due process of Parliament was overturned in respect of the banking inquiry when the Government added two members.

The Taoiseach then came to the House and said he had done it to control the terms of reference of the banking inquiry.

In the motion before the house, the Social Democrats propose a policy response to restore public trust, create accountability and foster a culture of openness. We propose the establishment of an independent anti-corruption agency. The agency would have the powers and resources to initiate and conduct investigations. It would bring together several relevant agencies, including the Standards in Public Office Commission, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the register of lobbying and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. Critically, the agency would be able to initiate investigations and conduct them. It would have the power to compel witnesses, to arrest and to prosecute through the courts. Nothing like that exists in Ireland today and we have all seen the consequences.

The proposal of the Social Democrats is based on a recently implemented model from Victoria which is already showing very promising results. It was developed with the input of Rory Treanor and Gavin Elliot, whom I thank for their hard work. The creation of an anti-corruption agency was explicitly called for on Monday night by David Waddell, the former head of the secretariat at the Standards in Public Office Commission, after the "RTE Investigates" programme. Were such an agency in place, it would conduct the inquiry being conducted by Mr. Justice Cregan. It would have sufficient powers and resources and the advantage of inter-agency expertise. Were the agency in place, it is far less likely that we would have seen the behaviour uncovered by the "RTE Investigates" team on Monday night. Indeed, David Waddell stated that SIPO does not even have the resources to conduct the kind of investigation "RTE Investigates" was able to carry out. In and of itself, that tells one all one needs to know. Were the agency in place, serious allegations of insider trading would be investigated and not passed from pillar to post and then dropped.

The Minister stated he did not know how the amalgamation of different agencies would enhance the capacity of the State to fight corruption. Amalgamation would foster co-operation and the sharing of expertise. Coupled with sufficient powers and resources, an independent anti-corruption agency would be a bold statement from Government that the culture needs to change and that public trust must be re-earned. The Government protests that it is serious about tackling corruption, creating a culture of openness and establishing a level playing field. At this stage, nobody believes that to be true. Here is the challenge to the Government. If it is serious about tackling corruption and giving the State the resources and powers needed to fight corruption, it will accept the recommendation of the Social Democrats and begin the process of establishing an independent anti-corruption agency to send a clear message to the public that the culture and the rules have changed for good and for the better.

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