Denis O’Brien and acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny at a Broadband Commission Meeting in Dublin on March 23, 2014

You may recall how the Moriarty Tribunal was published five years ago, on March 22, 2011.

During the delivery of a statement on the tribunal to the Dáil on March 29, 2011, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

I welcome equally the tribunal’s recommendations. In many ways, the recommendations reflect the vital reform plans of this Government. This is a serious report that merits a serious response. Previous tribunals elicited thousands of words, but pitiful inaction on the part of those who then sat on this side of the House. The new Government breaks from that precedent and will act definitively and decisively.

“…To recreate political virtue, rebuild public trust and restore our reputation, it is no longer sufficient to do what is correct. To achieve even a fraction of that, we must do what is right.

“While what is correct starts in legal opinions and rules and legislation, what is right starts here in the human heart, in our conscience, in respect for our neighbour, and in the values that define who we are and what we want to be. If this is how we try to live our lives, this is how we should practise our politics. I speak for the entire Government when I say this is what will inspire and drive our tenure in office.

“In the programme for Government, which was published by the new Government and endorsed by this House prior to the publication of the Moriarty tribunal’s report, we set out proposals for the most comprehensive programme of political reform since the 1930s.

“We believe politics must be about service to the public, and not to provide financial gain for politicians or anyone else. We have already kept our promise to reduce the salaries of members of the Government and to reform the arrangements in regard to ministerial transport.”

Further to this, tonight Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy says:

“During that speech given by Enda Kenny he declared that Fine Gael’s response would be ‘swift and appropriate.’ and he went on to say that it was ‘a serious report which merits a serious response.’ Yet, here we are, five years later and we are yet to see any meaningful action on the findings of the Tribunal.”

“Ironically, in that speech in March 2011 the Taoiseach criticised other parties because in his words ‘other tribunals had elicited thousands of words but pitiful inaction.’ I would question what is different in how Fine Gael have handled the findings of Moriarty?”

“The Social Democrats are urging all parties to acknowledge the need for urgent and serious action if we are to have any hope of restoring public confidence to Irish politics. Five years ago Enda Kenny declared this as a stated aim yet we have yet to see it materialise.”

Enda Kenny’s statement (Oireachtas.ie)

Pic: ITU

Thanks Ann Marie