1 / 17

Corruption: The View from the Oireachtas by Gillian Smith

This study assesses the impact of ethics legislation in Ireland since 1995, comparing attitudes of Oireachtas members to corrupt acts with UK Westminster MPs pre and post Nolan Reforms. It presents hypothetical scenarios and analyzes responses, showing differences in tolerance levels among members. The study concludes with insights on the need for continued monitoring and improvement in public service responsiveness.

kaseem-hawkins
Download Presentation

Corruption: The View from the Oireachtas by Gillian Smith

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Corruption: The View from the Oireachtas. Presented by Gillian Smith

  2. Research Question • To assess the effectiveness of the ethics legislation since its introduction in 1995. • To compare the attitudes of Oireachtas members to corrupt acts to those of Westminster MPs before and after the Nolan Reforms.

  3. Previous Studies • USA – Beard and Horn, Peters and Welsh • Canada – Atkinson and Mancuso • UK – Mancuso, Nolan • Australia – Rodney Smith

  4. The fifteen hypothetical scenarios presented to Oireachtas Members • Ticket: A TD is issued a first class airline ticket as part of a parliamentary delegation. She exchanges the ticket for an economy fare and pockets the difference. • Envelopes: A Senator brings pre-stamped Oireachtas envelopes to his Party’s County Councillors for them to use. • Retainer: A TD on retainer to a PR company representing the Construction Industry raises the abolition of stamp duty during Order of Business. • Contract: A Cabinet Minister uses his influence to obtain a large contract for a firm in his constituency. • Hospital: A TD uses his/her position to get a friend or relative moved up on a hospital waiting list. • Position: A Cabinet Minister promises an appointed position in exchange for campaign contributions to her Party. • License: A Cabinet Minister gives out State Broadcasting licences to individuals who donated large amounts to his Party prior to an election. • Secretary General: A Minister brings the Secretary General of his department to a Party meeting to inform the Minister’s Party Colleagues of an upcoming complex policy debate. • Parliamentary Secretary: A TD hires a family member as his/her Parliamentary Secretary. • Meeting: The head of a large Irish company goes to Leinster House to meet with the Minister for Finance to discuss the implications of upcoming tax legislation. • Paris: The head of a large Irish company flies the Minister for Finance to Paris to attend a rugby match. • Garda: A Garda receives fifty euro from the owner of a lorry to pass his logbook inspection • Pass: A TD requests and receives an Oireachtas pass for a lobbyist to act as a research assistant, although her services are being paid for by an outside source. • Committee: An All Party Committee on the disabled secures the services of a full time research assistant at the expense of the Irish Wheelchair Association • Wine: A TD accepts a case of wine from a constituent as a Christmas gift. Source: Smith, (2008)

  5. Scenario Responses and Statistics

  6. Overview of the results • Women more intolerant of corruption • Those serving longer than 10 years most intolerant, those serving between 5-10 years most tolerant of corruption – no ‘collegiate effect’. • Dáil members more intolerant than Senators.

  7. Examining the Results • Constituency service: Hospital, Contract, Envelopes. • Conflict of Interest: License, Pass, Ticket, Retainer, Paris, Parliamentary Secretary, Wine, Position.

  8. Bar graph showing responses to ‘Contract’ question Contract: A Cabinet Minister uses his influence to obtain a large contract for a firm in his constituency.

  9. Bar graph showing responses to ‘Hospital’ question Hospital: A TD uses his/her position to get a friend or relative moved up on a hospital waiting list.

  10. Bar graph showing response rate for ‘Position’ question Position: A Cabinet Minister promises an appointed position in exchange for campaign contributions to her Party.

  11. Bar graph showing responses to ‘Wine’ question Wine: A TD accepts a case of wine from a constituent as a Christmas gift.

  12. Service and Conflict scores for Mancuso, Allen and Smith studies Source: *Mancuso (1995); ** Allen (2006); Smith (2008).

  13. Ethical Locations of the Sample of Oireachtas Members

  14. Breakdown of respondents relative to mean scores Conflict Low Tolerance High Tolerance High Tolerance Service Low Tolerance Key: M indicates Mancuso’s (1995) data, A indicates Allen’s (2006) data and S indicates data from this study completed by Smith (2008).

  15. Breakdown of respondents relative to the Mancuso mean scores Conflict Low Tolerance High Tolerance High Tolerance Service Low Tolerance Key: M indicates Mancuso’s (1995) data, S indicates data from this study completed by Smith (2008).

  16. Explanations for differences • Political System -PR/STV - Coalition • Culture/Religion -Catholicism -Personalism

  17. Conclusion • Limited effect of legislation • Monitoring required • Importance of constituency service to voters - improving the responsiveness of the public service - increasing constituency size

More Related