NECESSARY REFORMS involving members’ pay and allowances have been introduced in the Houses of the Oireachtas. It hasn’t been easy or painless. But, at a time when good example and leadership is at a premium, this limited action by elected representatives is to be welcomed. Greater transparency has been introduced for travel costs and for vouched and unvouched constituency expenses. From now on, monthly details of individual payments will be published. Despite this, some feather-bedding persists.
Changes to the pay and conditions of Oireachtas members became unavoidable when Government revenues collapsed and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan went looking for savings. The reforms were resisted within all political parties before being grudgingly accepted. The adjustments should mark the beginning of a far more ambitious ethical programme aimed at minimising corruption within Irish politics. In that regard, the greatest threat is posed by political donations at all levels.
The challenge has been outlined in stark terms by Director of Public Prosecutions James Hamilton who warned that political corruption will continue for so long as there is private financing of political parties. At the same time, the Standards in Public Office Commission reported the major parties conspire to circumvent the law by inviting payments beneath the legal disclosure threshold of €5,078. As a result, only €76,000 in donations were formally recorded in 2009.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley has promised to break the link between big business and politics by banning corporate donations. But legislation has been delayed. The Standards in Public Office Commission has been urging root-and-branch reform for years. Last month, it suggested that all political parties should publish annual accounts of income and expenditure and that existing disclosure thresholds be lowered significantly. Electoral and bribery codes should be modernised and enforced. And there was a need for greater oversight of election spending at both national and local level.
The Standards in Public Office Commission has been made as welcome as a stone in its shoe by recent Fianna Fáil-led governments. It may finally disappear when Mr Gormley introduces his planned reforms. Before that happens, the Green Party should extract explicit undertakings from Taoiseach Brian Cowen concerning the radical reform of political donations and the publication of audited accounts.