James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and pay tribute to the work carried out to date by Mr. Justice Flood and Judge Mahon. While it has been an excessive exercise, involving a significant financial burden, the tribunal's value has been in the exposure of corruption and the lack of transparency at the heart of Government and the suspicious actions of some Ministers. The tribunal has exposed a web of corruption in planning in Dublin on a scale far beyond that expected by the public and involving developers, public representatives and a former council official.

No one could deny that the tribunal has done a major service in exposing such duplicity and opening the door to the prevention of such corruption in the future. No stone has been left unturned in this matter and the worms underneath have been exposed. Unfortunately, such a process is not as rapid as had been hoped. The Mahon tribunal is now in its seventh year and has incurred high ensuing costs for taxpayers. The expenditure of this money raises emotive moral issues in regard to its alternative uses. Many believe this money would be better spent on our under-resourced and crumbling schools and hospitals. This evening we have heard there are several hundred people on trolleys in hospitals throughout the country. This sad problem is not unique to Dublin. The expenditure of this money would be better spent on the marginalised, the disabled — the list could go on and on — and all the people who would benefit from money many people across the country consider has been wasted on nothing more than fat-cat lawyers.

What we want and expect to see from the Government now is a proposal to change the system and make a difference. We, on this side of the House, want to see a different planning system and we want corruption exposed in a more efficient manner than going through a tribunal. Even a fraction of the money spent on the tribunal could be used properly on resourcing the planning system to ensure an open transparent planning process. This is what is demanded by the public and politicians across the country. Some 99% of politicians are decent honest people and that must never be forgotten.

I call on the Minister to tell us what he envisages will replace the Mahon tribunal as a forum for receiving complaints of corruption, which have dogged this investigation. Fine Gael is proposing the setting up of a committee of investigation to investigate such allegations. It is apparent that the current tribunal suffers from grave problems. It moves too slowly, it costs too much and its remit is far too broad — the Minister referred to that this evening.

In proposing to wind up some investigations, and not even begin others, the tribunal will also refuse to accept new business in the form of new allegations. From 16 December, the date the Minister has set, many people will go home happily and eat their turkey in peace this Christmas. Interestingly the date now given for the conclusion of the tribunal's work, March 2007, coincides with the timescale for the introduction of a drastic cut in lawyers' fees. Former Minister McCreevy's much publicised move against barristers' fees will have no discernible effect on the planning tribunal, where senior counsels will collect approximately €2,400 per day for the duration.