Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. That was interesting because, as we know from media reports, there is a crisis facing An Bord Pleanála and it is quite a disturbing state of affairs. We are talking about conflicts of interest. We know that conflicts of interest do not necessarily equate to corruption but, as we saw with the planning tribunal, the presence of conflicts of interest can create the conditions in which corruption could take place.

The Minister mentioned the Mahon tribunal. The three main recommendations made by Mr. Justice Alan Mahon with regard to conflicts of interests included that the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, be given greater powers, for example, the power to initiate its own investigations. That did not happen. The second was that serious breaches of the Ethics in Public Office Act would become a criminal offence. Again, this did not happen. The third was to have a planning regulator with wide powers that would, to use the words of Mr. Justice Mahon, carry out "investigations into systemic problems in the planning system", including possible corruption. These powers were not given.

The Minister referred to the Public Sector Standards Bill, which was to give scope to all of these recommendations. The implementation of the Public Sector Standards Bill is the action that is urgently needed.

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