It speaks volumes that it has taken the Taoiseach 3 1/2 years in office to set out his stall on political reform. It is even well over six months since he described the issue as an urgent one when newspaper headlines abounded with story after story alleging political corruption, including accusations against the Taoiseach himself.
As the crisis of confidence in political life came to a head around last Easter, both Labour and Fine Gael produced detailed, if differing, series of proposals.
The Taoiseach's response was to propose the establishment of an all-party committee to discuss reform. Labour refused to participate on two grounds.
Firstly, we objected to the fact that the Government parties refused to set out their own positions and stated our fear that the proposed committee would amount to no more than a talking shop.
Secondly, we believe that the banning of corporate funding to politicians is now an absolute prerequisite to restoring faith in the political process, not an item for genial discussion.
Labour believes that the Taoiseach acted then, and continues to act, with bad faith on this issue.
Following his invitation to participate in this committee, the Taoiseach told the Dail that a ban on corporate funding would be unconstitutional. His open-ended request for discussions proved to be not so open-ended after all.
Despite numerous requests from me, he has yet to publish his legal advice to that effect. No doubt it emanates from his Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, who as a working politician vigorously opposed the reforms currently in place. ail about McDowell-BOC?
The Taoiseach's latest claim is that such a ban would militate against small parties, but this view is certainly not held by the Green Party, for example. Money goes to the larger parties in disproportion to their size and their access to large sums of money has acted as a barrier to others seeking to participate successfully in the political process.
In May, Labour tabled its Electoral Donations Bill before the Dail. The Bill sought to ban corporate donations, by restricting to individual electors the right to make political donations. It also banned overseas donations, a move that now seems to win favour with the Taoiseach. Gerry Adams's response has been interesting. The self-styled anti-establishment party at home is not keen to see a light shone on its $500-aplate dinners abroad. Hardly the stuff of activists selling newspapers and shaking boxes in pubs.
Reluctant to show the courage of his convictions to openly seek to retain corporate funding, the Taoiseach refused to have the Labour Bill voted down. The Government tabled an amendment delaying the passage of the Bill until December 1st. As that date has now passed, the Bill is deemed to have passed second stage in the Dail. This means that the Dail is happy with the underlying principle in the Bill.
As part of our six steps to restore political accountability published last Easter Monday, I called for the immediate enactment of measures Labour had already been campaigning on. Some of them have seen the light of day again in the Taoiseach's article.
For instance, the Taoiseach is now talking about legislation to protect whistleblowers - people who "blow the whistle" on corrupt practices. But the Government has already accepted a Labour Party Bill on this issue. It passed second stage debate as long ago as June 1999. But the Government has refused to facilitate the further passage of this Bill.
Similarly, the Taoiseach says he is considering legislation to govern the activity of lobbyists. This has been the Labour Party's position for quite some time. Yet again, the Taoiseach's actions do not match his words. The Government in both the Dail and the Seanad voted down a Labour Party Bill on the registration of lobbyists. Determined to see progress on this issue, Labour senators tabled an amended version of the Bill, to meet the Government's stated concerns, for discussion in the Seanad.
The Government this time did not vote the Bill down and used the same staying device as it applied to our Dail proposals on corporate funding. In effect, Labour's proposals on lobbying passed second stage debate in the Seanad on December 1st.
The Government's amendments to both Labour Party measures committed it to having its own measures prepared and discussed in Dail Eireann by the end of the year. It is a deadline that will be missed. In an effort, though, to be seen to be doing something as his deadline approaches, the Taoiseach has taken to writing newspaper articles.
But no amount of articles or political spinning can hide the fact that the Taoiseach's proposals are inadequate and threadbare. They simply reflect his lack of commitment to this issue. In the run-up to the last election, he promised concerted action on improving standards in public life. He had to. The spectre of Haughey was looming over him. Some 3 1/2 years later, those proposals that he now trumpets as the Standards in Public Office Bill have yet to be debated in the Dail.
During the whole course of this debate, I have made it clear that this is an issue to be addressed by all politicians. All the major political parties have been recipients of corporate donations in the past and Labour is no exception.
That said, there is no doubt that both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have enjoyed an enormous advantage over other parties as a result of their ability to access considerable business support. Their reluctance to address the issue is explicable in that context.
However, the funding of politics remains a live issue. How, for instance, is Fine Gael funding its £250,000 Celtic Snail campaign? Clearly it is seeking to gain advantage in the run-up to an election from its access to large amounts of money. Fianna Fail will no doubt retaliate in kind. I suspect that part of the reason for the Taoiseach's deliberate delays on funding reform is to allow a replenishment of party coffers for a difficult election ahead.
But what may be Fianna Fail's interest is clearly damaging politics. It is primarily the financial relationship between business and politics that is destroying respect for public life. It is at the heart of all the issues being discussed at both the Flood and Moriarty tribunals. It has created a climate of suspicion and fear, which impairs the important working relationship between business and politics that is in all our interests.
Labour's position on this issue is absolutely clear. We will not serve in any government, with any party, unless there is agreement that corporate funding is banned. Ultimately, it is in the interest of both politics and business. The Taoiseach's determination to retain corporate donations amounting to £20,000 per year is a pathetic attempt to hang on to a self-serving practice. It will do nothing to restore public confidence in politics.