Recent revelations of political corruption represented "a crisis for the State itself", the leader of Fine Gael said yesterday.
Speaking on RTE Radio's This Week, Mr John Bruton said that the work of the Flood tribunal had shown that the decision-making processes of some politicians and officials were "capable of being corrupted". This was "a matter of the utmost gravity", Mr Bruton said.
"We've had crises before in our democracy, external crises caused by war, caused by the activities of paramilitary organisations and the like. This is actually a crisis within the State itself."
The Fine Gael leader called for "stern laws" to deal with corruption. "Anybody who receives money, who's making a decision that could benefit the donor, should be required to prove that there wasn't a corrupt motive. The burden of proof should be on the recipient and the donor, not on the prosecution.
"No councillor making a decision on planning should in future be allowed to accept any donation, however small, from anybody who might benefit from their decision, not even 10 pence."
Mr Bruton said that the status of the donor was irrelevant. "I don't see any merit in a distinction between corporate donations and donations by partnerships of solicitors, partnerships of architects, partnerships of planners or partnerships of public relations consultants."
The Fine Gael leader said: "The overwhelming majority of politicians are not only not on the take, but are financially worse off than they would be if they weren't in politics".
Politicians nevertheless had to show that that they were "prepared to undertake what I unashamedly call `moral renewal' in politics in Ireland", Mr Bruton said. "We need to inculcate in everyone going into politics and everyone thinking and writing about politics that the standard in politics is not `win at all costs' [but] put the public first - serving the public, not serving yourself or your party.
"That is quite a radical change from the cynical way in which politics is even analysed in the media currently. There's an acceptance that winning the election, doing well in the opinion polls, that's what's important. The substance doesn't matter."
If it was shown at the Flood tribunal that any Fine Gael councillors had lied to the party's inquiry into payments from property developers, there would be "very serious consequences for the people concerned".
Mr Bruton also said that Mr Jim Mitchell, the Fine Gael TD, had given "tremendous confidence" to people who were suffering from cancer. He hoped that Mr Mitchell would "serve a long and fruitful political life in the future". He could also be proud of the example he had set by being "open about his illness", Mr Bruton added.
It emerged over the weekend that Mr Mitchell is suffering from a rare form of cancer.
