Guess who said the following: "The public are entitled to have an absolute guarantee of the financial probity and integrity of their elected representatives, their officials, and above all of ministers. They need to know that they are under financial obligations to nobody, other than public lending institutions, except to the extent that they are publicly declared."
It was Bertie Ahern, speaking in the Dáil in December 1996. In fact, he was so fond of it that he repeated it verbatim just two months later.
Or what about this one? "In principle, apart from token presentations in respect of functions performed at home and abroad, neither politicians nor officials should accept personal gifts of value from outside their family."
Yep, Bertie again, also in December 1996.
And this? "In a well-ordered democracy. the only gifts a politician should legitimately receive are public tokens of appreciation or mementoes of insignificant financial value at meetings with foreign visitors or at public functions. The reason we have ethics in Government legislation is to ensure we outlaw what we regard as unethical."
Bertie, of course, 1996.
This is fun.
You'll never get this one though: "We must make it clear in this House by our actions that we are going to insist on the highest standards in public life. It would be very dangerous, if the message were ever to go out, either here or abroad, however ill-founded, that Government here operates on the principle of backhanders, or that there are golden circles with a high entrance fee. We must nip that notion in the bud once and for all." Bertie again, this time in September 1997.
I could go on and on, but I'll stop now. Well, maybe just one more: "Politics and participation in public life is a career of public service. It is not an avenue of enrichment or lifestyle enhancement from private donors, even where they only want to help people perform in a particular manner . . . Anyone who abuses their position or knowingly flouts the rules will go. The political fabric of our democracy is precious."
He said that one twice as well, in both 1996 and 1997.
Finally, this is irresistible: "We must draw a line under bad habits that may have grown up over the last 30 years, and return to the ethos and public spirit that prevailed under the founders of this State, Eamon de Valera and W.T. Cosgrave." (February 1997)
Whether the €50,000 which the Taoiseach received in 1993 from his friends was a gift or a loan, we have Bertie himself to assist us on this thorny issue. In 1996, referring to Fine Gael's Michael Lowry and the contributions received from Ben Dunne, he pointed to the need to be able to prove that money received was in fact a loan. He added that "the making of such a large personal loan on more favourable conditions than would be available from any lending institution would clearly represent a personal favour that ought to be declared."
If a gift, then the Taoiseach is again of great assistance. In December 1996 he said that gifts must be declared "because of a legitimate concern that substantial undeclared gifts could have a hidden influence on political or other types of decision-making."
And when it comes to those decisions, which presumably include appointments of one's friends to State boards and bodies, the Taoiseach provides further clarity (December 1996 again): "Where payments have on both sides been legitimately given and received, in the legal and tax sense, it would still be important that they be put in their overall context, allowing people to be satisfied that they were purely ex gratia and not connected, either before or after, to any particular decisions."
With regard to Michael McDowell and the PDs, they would do well to bear in mind what happened to another small party in coalition with Fianna Fáil. The Labour Party paid an enormous political price for refusing to oppose the tax amnesty of 1993 (that year again!), described by the Progressive Democrats as a "shameful act".
That amnesty allowed defaulters to clear their accounts with a one-off payment of 15 per cent, much below the normal rates paid by compliant individuals.
There were no penalties or interest applied and absolute secrecy was guaranteed. It was the antithesis of everything the Labour Party stood for on tax and on equity, and yet it remained part of the government which introduced it. The minister for finance responsible for this amnesty was Bertie Ahern.
At that time, it was Michael McDowell who landed the body-blows to Labour.
"How can the Labour Party, which is supposed to be the party of workers, become the party of evaders, cheaters and multi- millionaires who want to launder their cash in this country?"
One can think without difficulty of a myriad of ways in which that particular table can now be turned against the PDs in the context of their approach to the current crisis.