Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

We must put measures in place to stop those who might be subject to corruption from succumbing to it and getting away with it. That is the reason we are putting in place the measures concerning planning, which I outlined in my contribution, as well as the whistleblowers, ethics and registration of lobbyists legislation to which Senator Quinn referred. We must put these measures in place.

I agree with the point made by Senator Bradford and others that the issue must be kept under review to see whether we need to take further steps in respect of donations. We intend to do that.

In response to Senator Keane's points about ongoing scrutiny and implementation of the recommendations, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, will come to Cabinet in early May with the departmental responses. These will not just be the initial responses of Departments. There will be timeframes for further discussions.

I take Senator Conway's point that the issue should be discussed in the Seanad again. This will not sit on the shelf, as it were. We will ensure we monitor the implementation of the recommendations and the measures we need to take to ensure politics does not fall to the standards of that time. Senators McAleese, O'Keeffe and Landy referred to that.

Senators McAleese, Landy, Harte and Quinn referred to examples of corruption in other places which could possibly be ongoing. I accept we will never again put in place such costly tribunals, on which we are all agreed, but we must ensure we have mechanisms to deal with corruption. Commissions of investigation, for example are a cheaper way of doing that.

I will speak briefly on the issue of cost. The measured cost to date of the Mahon tribunal is €110 million, but the most recent projected cost the tribunal received in April was €200 million. I heard the figure of €300 million referred to several times in the debate. It may well go higher than €200 million, but at this stage I cannot give a definitive figure. There are measures in place, including the establishment of a dedicated unit to deal with third party costs arising from both the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals. This is located in the State Claims Agency and has experience in the areas of, for example, personal injuries and property damage claims against the State. That will help to minimise third party costs. There are ongoing third party costs that have not been determined. There is an outstanding module, the Carrickmines module, that has not been completed. There are measures to reduce the cost of the rest of the work of the tribunal and we hope they will be successful.

We need to have a more specific focus in carrying out investigations in the future. The current tribunal embraced all sorts of things at various stages and we must learn from that experience ways in which to curtail costs.

The tribunals have done significant work in shinning a light on a culture that must be eradicated. Others as well as I have made the point that there is not just a financial cost but also a cost in terms of ghost estates and communities on the edge of Dublin and other towns that have been developed beyond the bounds of sense. We cannot allow that to happen again. We must ensure measures are put in place based on what we have learned. I give an undertaking to the Seanad that my colleagues and I in Government will put planning and other measures in place.

To respond to Senator Byrne's query, the review of the retail planning guidelines is almost complete and has been sent out for public scrutiny. There will be a specific focus on town centres rather than suburban sprawl.

I will be willing, as I am sure will my colleagues, to return to the Seanad to have a further debate on the issue of the tribunal report. We as public representatives must ensure we learn the lessons from it and put the measures in place to regain public confidence in political activity. We owe that to future generations.

I thank all Members who contributed to the debate.