Former minister of State Mr Ned O'Keeffe has been suspended from the Dáil for ten days after being found to have breached the Ethics in Public Office Act for failing to declare some of his farming interests.
The Standards in Public Office Commission last year found that Mr O'Keeffe had inadvertently failed to declare that his family pig-farming operation was licensed to feed meat and bone meal to pigs.
In the Dáil last night, Fianna Fáil deputy Mr O'Keeffe questioned the behaviour of the Minister for Agriculture Mr Joe Walsh.
"I am absolutely satisfied, sadly, that the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh, behaved in a manner which certainly questioned his integrity on several occasions.
"No Government department can function in an orderly and proper way if there are individuals intent on protecting mini-empires - and the taxpayer has had to pay the price on more than one occasion," Mr O'Keeffe.