Minister rejects FG bill on corruption

The Minister for Justice said that he would shortly bring proposals before the House to improve the prevention of corruption acts.

Mr O'Donoghue rejected a Fine Gael private member's Bill creating a number of new offences such as bribery, payment of secret commission, "payola" and kickbacks and abuse by a public official of his or her duty.

Introducing the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, Mr Charles Flanagan (FG, Laois-Offaly) said that it defined bribery under statute for the first time. This was in response to the need for a modern statutory offence of bribery to include new offences of procuring a breach of duty by deception and by threats of intimidation.

"In framing this legislation, Fine Gael is conscious of the widespread cynicism that exists towards politicians and the practice of politics, and I hope that the Government will see fit to accept the Bill at this stage."

Rejecting the Bill, Mr O'Donoghue said the question was whether it was an adequate response to the need for reform. "I defy anyone to answer that in the affirmative. The Bill does not even attempt to deal with the main purpose of the proposals which I am preparing, which is to make major improvements to our law so as to meet our international obligations."

He said the Bill was partly drafted on the basis of expert provisional recommendations which those very experts had subsequently rejected. "If their own provisional recommendations are not sufficient for the UK law commission, why should they be sufficient for this House? Other provisions in the Bill are based on a mixture of old law and new untested proposals from another state. Some provisions overlap with existing law, other provisions are based on misunderstandings, and others still are unnecessary."

Mr O'Donoghue said that TDs did not demand or expect perfection but they were entitled to expect legislative proposals to "at least be adequate, to at least constitute a basis for reform. I do not believe that this Bill constitutes such a basis."

Mr Flanagan, however, said his Bill "ensures that the law and threat of prosecution can now represent a very strong deterrent against corruption in business, commercial and public life".