Gilmore calls for 'promised' review of code of conduct for office-holders

A REVIEW of the code of conduct for office-holders was called for by Labour’s Eamon Gilmore.

He said that Taoiseach Brian Cowen had promised the review with the Standards in Public Office Commission when the Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007 was eventually passed.

That legislation had been around for a long time, said Mr Gilmore.

It was first announced, he added, by the Taoiseach’s predecessor, Bertie Ahern, and the then minister for justice, Michael McDowell, on the steps of Government Buildings in the autumn of 2006, following the disclosure that the former taoiseach had received payments while he was minister for finance from friends, associates and so on.

“It became known as the dig-out Bill, and it was introduced by the present Taoiseach when he was minister for finance,’’ the Labour leader added.

Mr Gilmore said it was intended under the Bill that an office-holder would consult with the commission to check if it was all right to accept a particular gift.

Mr Cowen said he was suggesting that they wait because the code of conduct could not impose new requirements which were not legislatively based.

“It is based on the present legislation and, therefore, one cannot change the code in the absence of legislative amendment,’’ he added.

Mr Cowen said the matter could be debated by the party whips.

The legislation, he added, provided that office-holders and Oireachtas members were not to accept gifts, loans or below-cost services worth in aggregate more than €2,000 without obtaining the commission’s opinion.