Catherine Murphy claims Government deliberately removes oversight

The Government is involved in a “calculated removal of oversight” on matters of public interest, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy has claimed.

The removal of oversight “is exactly the kind of thing that makes people livid and destroys trust in our systems”, she said calling for root and branch reform of the anti-corruption regime in Ireland.

The party’s private members’ motion demands the establishment of an anti-corruption agency similar to those operating in Victoria in Australia, the UK and in Hong Kong, which would consolidate and reform legislation dealing with corruption and white-collar crime.

Ms Murphy said it would ensure “full oversight of public procurement, new anti-corruption legislation and a standing commission of investigation”, which would have powers of arrest, authorisation to initiate and conduct investigations, witness compellability, the right to court-authorised search and seizure, and prosecution at District and Circuit level.

She pointed out that Mahon and Moriarty tribunals had cost more than €200 million but implementation of their recommendations had been wholly unsatisfactory. The statute of limitations on the Moriarty recommendations will run out in 2016, she added.

Warning flag

The Kildare North TD said the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) had “no teeth” and was essentially little more than a warning flag without real powers of enforcement.

Ms Murphy, a persistent campaigner on issues of accountability, said “there has been and continues to be a calculated removal of oversight by previous governments and unfortunately by this Government”.

And she said this removal of oversight “is evident at almost every level of Irish political life”.

When she raised questions around the IBRC, the Cregan inquiry was established and every other avenue to seek clarity was immediately closed down, she said. She had freedom of information requests closed down despite them being asked before the inquiry was established and her understanding of the legislation was that such requests could not be refused.

She said the Department of Finance had concerns about six particular IBRC deals including one relating to petrol station chain Topaz.

Quoting into the Dáil record parts of an article on the sale, she said businessman Denis O’Brien acquired Topaz two years ago, paying €150 million for the company’s debt, which was sold by liquidators to the State-owned IBRC bank.

Mr O'Brien paid another €75 million to acquire Esso Ireland and then sold both for close to €500 million, making a profit of about €200 million in 24 months she added.

“These were distressed assets owned by the State. Is it any wonder the department had concerns about them?” she said.

Ms Murphy accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of “kicking to touch” the issue of the interest rate terms Mr O’Brien had on his loans.

‘Difficult to resolve’

She said it was not enough for Mr Kenny to say “it is difficult to resolve”. She said “the question is whether this was acceptable practice for a bank tasked with getting the optimum return for citizens”.

She also criticised Minister for Finance Michael Noonan about deals his departmental officials had concerns about. Highlighting the retention by the IBRC of US company Blackstone to advise on the disposal of assets worth €30 billion, at nominal value, Ms Murphy said the company was then allowed to bid for IBRC loans.

Asked about this Mr Noonan dismissed concerns that there was a conflict of interest “because the company had put in Chinese walls”. She also said the Minister declined to disclose how much IBRC paid Blackstone for its advice, citing confidentiality.

She said all this was taking place under the watch of a political party that in 2011 made a commitment to do something about such things.

Her party colleague Róisín Shortall praised the RTÉ Investigates programme into alleged political corruption and said it confirmed what was suspected for a long time. "Corruption remains a significant problem in Irish public life."

Ms Shortall said the three councillors featured in the programme should resign from public office and not just their parties. She added that the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader should address this, she said.

Ireland “does not have an effective way of preventing, detecting and prosecuting corruption”, she warned.

And there is a “strong public perception that a golden circle continues top exist in Irish society, whose members regard themselves as being accountable to no-one and untouchable”.

Moriarty tribunal

Ms Shortall said there was no Government urgency about any of the matters raised in the Moriarty tribunal, and four years after the advice of the DPP was sought on whether a full investigation was warranted, it is still awaited.

“How can anybody be expected to believe the Government gives a damn about accountability?,” she added.

But Minister of State Tom Hayes said "there isn't a state in the world – not even the most open democracy – that has succeeded in fully eliminating the greed, self-service and corruption of those small few who abuse political office for their own gratification or enrichment."

Responding in the Dáil to the debate on the establishment of an anti-corruption agency, he cited seven pieces of legislation that the Government had enacted since it took office, including the issue of political party funding, the regulation of lobbying, corporate enforcement provisions and the strengthening of freedom of information measures.

And the 2011 Criminal Justice Act had provided the Garda with “innovative tools” to investigate white collar crime.

He reiterated comments by the Taoiseach earlier in the Dáil that legislation on the establishment of an independent office of planning regulator would go to Cabinet next week and would then be published.

Mr Hayes said the Government had done much to reform the legislative and regulatory landscape.

“There is more to be done, and the coming weeks will see publication of further key reforms in the area of planning, public standards and corruption law.”

They would continue to work to ensure that we have better laws, better enforcement, and a renewed culture of propriety that will leave no hiding place for those who would betray the public trust.