Public trust must be Dáil priority

The web of lies, deceit and abuse of power which is unraveling at the Planning Tribunal reveals deep-seated corruption by politicians who were prepared to subvert the laws of this country for personal gain.

Malleable politicians aided and abetted the contemptible activities of lobbyist Frank Dunlop in promoting the commercial and financial interests of his paymasters.

Yesterday he claimed that he inherited a list in the late 1980s which identified one-third of the 76 members of Dublin County Council as amenable to improper payments.

Apart from the greed that spurred them, any elected public representatives who took payments betrayed the trust of the very people who voted them into their positions of power and influence.

It is hardly surprising then, that apathy among the electorate, especially young people, has been marked by disappointingly low turnouts at the polls.

Compounding this situation, is the perception, largely justifiable, that there are no consequences for the politicians who figure ignominiously in tribunals of inquiry, other than to suffer odium.

Fianna Fáil TD GV Wright is a case in point. Mr Wright was recently involved in a serious road traffic accident on his way home from the Dáil in which a woman was seriously injured. He later admitted to driving with more than the permitted level of alcohol in his blood.

Despite a public outcry, Mr Wright deemed his actions did not warrant resignation from his Dail seat.

He had the support of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern who maintained that the matter would be dealt with properly in the courts.

Neither does this newspaper seek to pre-empt the court, where Mr Wright is entitled to have his case adjudicated upon.

The TD has once more come under public scrutiny through accusations levelled against him in the Planning Tribunal by Frank Dunlop, all of which he has denied, including one of conspiracy with the lobbyist to mislead the tribunal.

Whatever the outcome of the tribunal, it is vital to the already fragile public confidence in the body politic that where a member of the Oireachtas is in an invidious position, a mechanism exists to protect that confidence.

Without presuming to decide the guilt or otherwise of an individual, it is vital that trust in our public institutions be reinforced, either through their voluntary absence from the Oireachtas, or suspension until the issue is decided by the proper forum, be it a court of law or a tribunal.

It is not sufficient that an elected member merely go through the motions of resigning from their political party, because that ploy has already been recognised for the glaring sham it is.

That public disillusionment will hardly be diminished by the irresponsible decision of politicians to award themselves another week’s holiday, only a matter of weeks after they resumed following their three-month long summer vacation.

They might have employed their time by taking on the not inconsiderable task of restoring public confidence in that institution which they were so obviously anxious to vacate.