Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that SIPO's regulations around political donations and funding are sufficient, as good as the work of SIPO might be. This is specifically about planning corruption. This was at the heart of some of the worst corrupt practices in the political system - how it corrupted planning and rezoning decisions to make fortunes for people, where local communities suffered the consequences and where major political parties were deeply implicated. To ensure this does not happen, the people in every local authority area need to be able to access easily all information pertaining to who has a stake, who has tried to exercise influence regarding rezoning and planning decisions, or where money has exchanged hands with politicians that may have influenced their planning decisions. People need to know that information. Otherwise they are not getting the whole picture. During my short experience as a councillor before being elected to the Dáil, I had reason to believe that money was at play with regard to one development plan with which I was involved, that developers were trying to influence councillors and that they were making donations to certain councillors who were supporting certain decisions. I believe the public has a right to know. No doubt, some of those councillors will defend their position and say it is legitimate, and we can argue that point, but I think the public has a right to know. I urge the Minister of State to accept the proposal from the Mahon tribunal. This is not a proposal from the radical left. It is the left in the Dáil inserting as an amendment what the Mahon tribunal proposed.

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