Fianna Fail is to impose a limit on the amount of money a party candidate can receive from a single donor during an election campaign.
The move was agreed on Wednesday by the parliamentary party, which passed a new mandatory code of conduct for members.
However, the threshold on the size of a donation a candidate can accept was not agreed and is to be decided at a later date by the party trustees. The figure is not to be included in the ethics code, which will come before the Fianna Fail Ardfheis on March 3rd for approval.
The party chairman, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, said yesterday he did not know when a threshold figure would be agreed.
The final draft of the code of conduct, "Standards in Public Life", was agreed with some amendments at Wednesday's meeting.
Tipperary North TD Mr Michael O'Kennedy raised the issue of introducing a threshold on the size of a personal donation election candidates can accept at Wednesday's meeting. He suggested a limit of £5,000.
A candidate who receives a donation above the limit would hand the balance over to party headquarters.
The agreed code of ethics also states that if a member receives a donation intended for the party, either at national or local level, the donation must be forwarded to the party without delay.
Donors wishing to make a contribution must be asked to make their cheque payable to "Fianna Fail - Head Office".
Members are also required under the code not to accept any contribution that could possibly compromise their independence. If a member receives a donation and decides to give it to the party, a receipt must be sought from the party.
The code states members will be required to issue receipts for all donations. In the case of fund-raising events, details of all income and expenditure must be recorded.
Members will be required to maintain a separate bank account for fund-raising events which they organise.
There were some other minor amendments agreed to the code of conduct at the meeting. One was in relation to the requirement that election literature had to be cleared by the local director of elections. The literature will now have to be cleared by the national director of elections.
A party source said several contributions were made to the meeting on the new code of ethics. While it was unanimously agreed, one source said there were some reservations about having a code of ethics at all, saying: "Our obligations are set out in legislation and under the constitution. There was some unease about the idea of a code of ethics at all."
The code was first proposed by the Taoiseach at a Fianna Fail Ardfheis in November, 1998.
An original proposal from Fianna Fail that election candidates produce a tax clearance certificate has been watered down in the code. Instead, it asks candidates to sign a pledge saying they have complied with, or are in the process of complying with, their tax obligations.
The code of conduct deals with election campaigns, fund-raising for candidates and office-holders, and penalties and investigative procedures for those in breach of the code. It also outlines officeholders' and election candidates' duties under the Electoral Acts, the Ethics in Public Life Act and the Litter Act.
Under the code a Standards in Public Life Committee, made up of no more than five people, will be established to investigate complaints.
Due to a technical transmission fault, this report did not appear in yesterday's editions. A two-week- old report on the same subject appeared in error.