Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I wish a happy new year to all.

What has emerged in the past week about the conduct of not one, but two Fine Gael Ministers is deeply concerning. It raises fundamental questions about standards in public life, standards in public office, trust in politics, the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy. A Minister of State has already resigned without answering any questions and, further, the Minister responsible for ethics reform is now under investigation for undisclosed election donations. It is welcome that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make a statement this afternoon in the Dáil and take questions, but it is regrettable that it appears there will be no facility for responses to our questions.

The revelations are all the more concerning when a fringe minority is seeking to sow distrust and attack elected representatives to further a vicious far-right agenda. We all know the power of politics to transform the lives of people but, unfortunately, we know politics can have a dark side too. For many years, our political system was plagued with corruption and grubby deals. For decades, we in the Labour Party fought to stamp out corruption. We called out corruption in the planning system when it took place years ago. We sought to pass ethics laws. We ensured the passage of the right to freedom of information, protection for whistleblowers and a register for lobbyists. We ensured there would be limits on donations and on the power to purchase influence. However, on the necessary further ethics reform, unfortunately since 2016 this and the previous Government have sat on their hands. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed to move further with the necessary reforms.

Deputy Brendan Howlin's Public Sector Standards Bill 2015, which would overhaul SIPO and give it the necessary extra powers it has long sought, was last debated in this Chamber exactly seven years ago, on 20 January 2016. It was then stalled and shelved by the Government in July 2020.

When will the Taoiseach commit to introducing that Bill? Who will be responsible for taking it through the House? Will it be the Taoiseach? A Minister of State resigned last week when it was revealed that false information was submitted on a planning application. That cannot be the end of it. As leader of Fine Gael, can the Taoiseach say that this is behaviour his party tolerates? Does hethink it is tenable for a Deputy to remain in his party having given false information on a planning application that he benefited from?

What we know about the donation in 2016 to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is still limited. We still need to know more. It appears that a company and its owner picked up the costs of his election postering without his knowledge, which is a highly unusual arrangement to say the least. How can the Minister be clear that this was a donation to the party and not to the candidate to help his re-election? How can we trust what has been disclosed to date, in particular the commercial value Fine Gael has put on the donation? Where is the evidence the Taoiseach has to back up the revised disclosure? Can he tell us how the commercial value was determined? Is it common practice in Fine Gael for businesspeople to pick up postering costs for individual candidates?

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