Brian Lenihan remains an avid aficionado of the Not-Our-Fault-But defence that is currently doing the rounds, writes ELAINE BYRNE.
WE ARE sorry. We were wrong. These words are without quotation marks because they remain politically homeless.
Actually, according to the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern on RTÉ 1 television's Prime Timeprogramme last week, "no one really is responsible. It just happened that we hit a wall. There are international factors".
The Minister for Finance was slightly less obstinate on Sunday's Week in Politicsprogramme on RTÉ 1 television regarding the domestic reasons for the Irish economic collapse. Nonetheless, Brian Lenihan remains an avid aficionado of the Not-Our-Fault-But defence that is currently doing the rounds. "I accept that we went too far with the construction industry. But . . . I'm saying that Government played its part in this. But . . . Yes I accept that Government contributed towards it. But . . ."
But. But. But.
This unwillingness to admit unconditionally that mistakes have been made filters down ultimately into wider public life. If it is no one’s fault, then of course, no one can be held accountable and therefore nothing needs to change. In this scenario there is no obligation to learn from the past because the mindset of the past remains that of the present.
The intensely positive reaction to Brian Cowen's State of the Nation-esque trilogy last week is a measure of how hungry the public appetite is to be reassured. Yet, the transcripts of last Tuesday's RTÉ's Six One Newslive press conference and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce address, confirm that the Taoiseach failed to mention the word trust even once.
He spoke for 26 minutes.
In a dogged interview by Marian Finucane on her Saturday RTÉ radio 1 show, the Taoiseach inevitably paid his respects to the Not-Our-Fault-But defence.
Abandoning the Fianna Fáil tent at the Galway Races was not an admission of “home-grown mistakes” as Marian called them. Instead, the Taoiseach assured us that he “got rid of that fundraising thing because it wasn’t worth the hassle. There was all this mythology that you were talking about . . . the signal was that there was no intention on our part at any time for anyone to think that there’s an inside curve for anybody.”
A perception of improper influence between the party of government for the last 10 years and property developers was not wrong; it was just not worth the hassle anymore. Well that’s okay then.
Indifferent language such as this does not inspire trust. The exercise of political influence is by its nature difficult to determine but whether implicit or explicit, reciprocal or partisan, it does exist.
TDs, senators and MEPs across the political divide disclosed €2.6 million altogether in donations to the Standards in Public Office Commission between 1997 and 2007. Fianna Fáil TDs, senators and MEPs were by far the largest beneficiary, receiving 62 per cent (€1.6 million) of all disclosed donations during these Celtic Tiger years
In that same period, political parties disclosed €2.7 million. (Subscriptions from the salaries of elected representatives to their parties are not included in this figure.)
The Fianna Fáil party were in receipt of 55 per cent (€1.48 million) of all donations. Cursory analysis shows that 40 per cent (€599,990) of this came from developers and construction-related donors.
Treasury Holdings, which also donated under Castlemarket Holdings and Spencer Dock Developments and in the name of two of its directors and the wife of a director, proved the most generous. In all, the property company donated €98,408 to Fianna Fáil and its representatives over the years. The Progressive Democrats were given €69,302.
A comprehensive inventory of the developers who donated above the legal threshold can be accessed on the standards commission website. This column is more than happy to cross-check this list, if one was provided, with that of the bountiful bounty of political appointments made in the last 10 years.
The column is also quite happy to cross-check these lists with the loan books of our banks, at no extra charge (especially given that they are literally “our” banks).
The 2008 standards commission report found that €8.8 million in political donations were not disclosed in the three-week period before the 2007 general election (never mind that spent in the previous two years!). We still do not know the annual income of political parties and individuals, nor have we a full picture of how elections are funded.
The Council of Europe body, the Group of States against Corruption (Greco), is due to conduct a “transparency of party funding” report in Ireland this year. Reports on 10 of our European neighbours have already been completed. Greco’s report, which will be publicly available, is timely given the forthcoming by-elections, local and European elections and the Lisbon Referendum re-run.
The withdrawal of the former US Senate leader Tom Daschle as health and human services secretary because of his failure to pay almost $140,000 in taxes invoked this response by President Barack Obama: “I think this was a mistake. I think I screwed up. And, you know, I take responsibility for it and we’re going to make sure we fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Until someone in Fianna Fáil acknowledges, without any buts, that how we fund our democracy is wrong, wrong, wrong, the past will remain as our future.
(If that’s not too much hassle.)