Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are all about accountability in this House and in Dáil Éireann. Last week and the week before, we had the spectacle of a Minister being held to account over election expenses going back to 2016. People stood on the high moral ground and pointed the finger of accusation but many of those same people have had to climb down off that high moral ground now and explain their own election expenses. I could not care less what political parties or individuals spend on their election campaigns. There is an organisation to oversee that, the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO. What we should be talking about is how we empower SIPO to do the job we expect it to do. We should not be wasting parliamentary time. Ministers, by virtue of the fact that they are members of Government, are held to account but I could not be held to account and neither could any member of the Opposition be held to account on the floor of Parliament because we are not answerable on the floor of Parliament.