Publication of a Prevention of Corruption Bill by Fine Gael provides another important response by our political system to the evidence of bribery and dishonesty in public office, along with fraud and malpractice in the business and financial sectors. As Mr John Bruton correctly pointed out, the Dail appointed four tribunals in recent years to examine matters of serious public concern in relation to corruption and fraud, but it failed to take any steps to modernise and strengthen the law to deal with their findings. If the Coalition Government was serious in its determination to clean up the business and political system, then changes in the criminal law were required, he said.
Action by Fine Gael in producing a Private Member's Bill on this subject reflects long-standing criticism of the law dealing with fraud and white collar crime by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Eamonn Barnes. It also accords with recommendations made some years ago by the British Law Reform Commission. In drafting the Bill, the party's spokesman on justice, Mr Charlie Flanagan, took account of growing public cynicism towards business and public affairs following a long-running series of scandals. He concluded that the only way of responding adequately to the situation was by criminalising the practices of bribery, corruption, `payola', secret commissions and the abuse by a public official of his or her office. He also proposed that the burden of proof be placed on the shoulders of anyone charged under the Bill.
Citizens should not conclude that our society is ineffably corrupt because action is being taken to modernise our laws on fraud and dishonesty. This is simply good legislative housekeeping and should have been done years ago. The last relevant Act was passed in 1916. A survey of corruption, compiled by an international agency in 1998, placed Ireland in sixth place in a list of least corrupt countries, an improvement from the ninth position it held from 1980 to 1982 and comfortably ahead of the United States and Britain. But the Scandinavian countries provide a useful template for what can be achieved.
While corruption continues at any level in public life there can be no complacency. That is why the Government should accept Fine Gael's proposals in this matter, unless it has similar legislation of its own waiting to go. Public interest should override party political considerations in this important matter. The Government is preparing to build on the advances already made in the Ethics in Public Office Act and the Electoral Act, through the establishment of a Commission for Standards in Public Office. That action is genuinely welcomed. But it is confined to complaints against people in public office, while the Fine Gael legislation is universal and proposes important changes in the criminal law. There is no reason why the various legislative initiatives should not complement one another. After all, Fianna Fail and Mr John O'Donoghue were largely responsible for the creation of the hugely successful Criminal Assets Bureau from the opposition benches.