It was not necessary that all public representatives be paragons of virtue, Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) told the House. "They can be rogues, as long as they are honest rogues."
He said a major discussion at the moment centred on Fianna Fail struggling with itself over the issue of ethics in office. Everyone on both sides of both houses should take a common approach. "It should not be a case of one party or group trying to outbid the other in terms of morality. We need an open, simple and implementable series of principles we should attach to people going forward for public office. That should be agreed on all sides and it should not be a matter of competition between parties."
Mr David Norris (Ind) said there should be a discussion on ethics but it should not be too nit-picking. "I am getting rather tired of filling up forms admitting that I received no bribes from anybody. It's very humiliating. Everybody else seems to be getting them but nobody seems to think I am worthy of it."