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Annual Report 2007
Complaints to the Standards Commission
The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 (the 2001 Act), collectively known as the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001 (hereafter referred to as the Ethics Acts), provide for a complaint to the Standards Commission where it is considered that a contravention of the legislation may have occurred.
It should be noted that complaints against members of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann who are not office holders must be made to the Committee on Members' Interests of Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann, respectively, via the Clerk of the Dáil or Seanad, as appropriate. The Clerk will pass on the complaint to the relevant Committee provided there is sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case in relation to the complaint.
Statistics
The Standards Commission received 47 complaints during 2007. Of these, 16 were considered to be invalid complaints in that they did not concern a contravention by a person of a provision of the Ethics Acts, such as a failure to disclose an interest where required to do so, or an alleged "specified act" (see note 1 below) by a "specified person".
While there has been an increase in the number of complaints over previous years, the number of complaints to the Standards Commission remains relatively low. In last year's annual report, the Standards Commission stated that this may be due to -
- the complexity of the legislation, especially the provisions relating to complaints about a "specified act",
- a low level of awareness of the principles of the various codes of conduct,
- the lack of publicly available evidence of non-compliance, in view of the restricted disclosure provisions applicable in many cases under the Ethics Acts, or
- a possibility that there may be a low level of contravention of the Ethics Acts.
The increase may indicate a greater public concern about ethical issues. However, the number of invalid complaints can be taken as evidence of the complexity of the legislation and the consequent difficulty in framing complaints which meet the requirements of the Ethics Acts.
Note 1
An act or omission which is inconsistent with the proper performance of public functions and which is of significant public importance (section 2 of the 1995 Act, as amended).
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