A report in the editions of Friday March 17th, headed "By-election overspend referred to DPP", stated wrongly that "a division of the Ombudsman's office" had referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions a file concerning an overspend in the Dail by-election of 1999 in the Dublin South Central constituency by the election agent of the successful candidate, Dr Mary Upton TD. The file was referred to the DPP by the Public Offices Commission, a statutory body, independent of the Ombudsman's office, charged with supervising the Electoral Acts of 1997 and 1998 which place limits on the amounts which may be spent at elections.
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