Irish Examiner view: If you have a role in public life, you ought to be leading by example
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It’s always been possible to feel a twinge of sympathy for Pompeia, the second wife of Julius Caesar. When suggestions of impropriety were unproven, she was promptly divorced by the ambitious senator, who had an eye on becoming emperor of Rome. And she disappeared from history.
“Caesar’s wife” declared her erstwhile husband, “must be above suspicion.” It’s a phrase that has resonated down the centuries and while political expediency may have been at play, the slogan has set a benchmark for corporate responsibility.
If you fulfil a role in public life, ask for people’s trust, and enact duties on behalf of others, then your actions must be more than simply justifiable. They must be beyond even a shadow of a doubt. It’s a quotation frequently used by politicians, usually as a precursor to explaining themselves.
And Judge James McNulty explained at Bandon Court why public officials must set a good example when he sentenced the former deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanála, Paul Hyde, to jail for breaches of the planning law.
Judge McNulty acknowledged that there had been no loss to the State and no material gain for the accused. The defendant was not accused of corruption, nor was there any imputation of corruption. But the case involved a breach of trust.
“To serve the citizens of Ireland is a great privilege, and to serve the citizens of Ireland in a position of trust is a great privilege with great responsibilities,” the judge said. “It was incumbent on him to lead by example.”
The judge added that filing annual declarations was part of this process.
“If those in authority are lax and careless and non-compliant, what will those in the ranks do? They will be careless and lax, almost as if compliance is an option.”
The prison sentences are described as “mid-range”. But the words underlining the importance of confidence in public office will last much longer than their terms.