David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like people all over the country I watched the RTE programme last night about corruption and was horrified. Corruption is a cancer in this country and it needs to be utterly and absolutely condemned. Corruption has real effects on people's lives. We see it in the planning decisions, in the flooding, in inappropriate developments and so on that have ruined people's lives. The most indicative moment of the programme was the two gestures. The sly compliant wink of the man from Donegal and the scrabbling movements of Councillor McElvaney when he was trousering and jacketing what he described as loads of money. It was disgusting. However, if one is going to take the high moral position, if one is going to lay down the law about morals and if one is going to investigate people then one also needs certain standards. I must be the only person in this country to feel that those standards were grossly vitiated by the makers of the "RTE Investigates" programme. They instigated and initiated criminal activity. They acted as agent provocateur. They set up a fake company. They entrapped people into situations where they invited them to engage in criminal activity. It is indicative that out of all of them they got three, which is 0.3% of councillors, yet everybody was tarred in politics. I personally greatly resent this.

The programme makers illegally recorded and broadcast telephone conversations. Of course the material on them was corrupt and has to be condemned but the law must be upheld as well. I understand they appealed the High Court's decision in the case of the nursing homes. In the case of the nursing homes, criminal activity had been going on, was going on and continued to go on. In this case, the criminal activity was precipitated deliberately by RTE's investigative team. I find that disgusting. I was astonished that not one - not one - of the moral pundits and academics sought to question, in any sense, the methods used in this situation. I speak with an interest in this, which I will declare. A couple of weeks ago, a letter was hand delivered to me here. It was like something from the Gestapo. In it, there were allegations that I had transgressed ethics by failing to disclose that I was a director of a film company. I found that very shocking and was left shaking from it. I raked my memory. I contacted an accountant who went to the Companies Office. I never heard of that company, never signed anything, never received any reports and never got notice of meetings. I was blissfully unaware of the situation and I made that clear to these people within 24 hours. Does one think I got as much as an acknowledgement or an apology? One must be joking. The attitude of these people was the tabloid thing - squirt out the accusations all over the place and let us hear people deny them. RTE is a national broadcaster; it is a public service broadcaster. It was disgraceful that these tactics were allowed. I condemn utterly corruption but I also condemn the squalid methods employed by RTE in the making of that programme.