Ireland's leading engineering body, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland (IEI), said yesterday that all complaints against members would be "thoroughly" investigated and local authority employees found in breach of the institution's code of ethics would be penalised.
The current investigation into alleged planning irregularities in a number of local authorities has been referred to the IEI ethics board, Mr Paddy Purcell, the IEI's director, confirmed.
"Obviously we are keenly interested in the outcome of these investigations and will rigorously implement our code of ethics if any of our members is found to be in breach of the code," he said.