Annual Report 2007

Complaints against office holders

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD

The Standards Commission received two complaints in 2007 from members of the public regarding the actions of the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern TD, in accepting gifts and loans while he was Minister for Finance. Having considered all the material available to it at that time, the Standards Commission concluded that the complaints did not warrant the initiation of an investigation. In reaching that conclusion, the Standards Commission took the following into account:

• the payments to Mr Ahern which were the subject of the complaints were made before the enactment and commencement of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 on 22 July 1995;
• the payment of a gift of £8,000 stg. from a group of businessmen in Manchester in October 1994 was outside the scope of the 1995 Act;
• the payments to Mr Ahern in 1993 and 1994 by twelve friends, if characterised as gifts, fell wholly outside the scope of the 1995 Act;
• it was appropriate to treat the payments as loans made to Mr Ahern. Having regard to the material before it as to the circumstances in which the loans were made, the amount of the loans, the interest rates prevailing during the period of the loans and the interest actually paid by Mr Ahern, the Standards Commission was satisfied that there was no evidence of any breach of the requirements of the 1995 Act (as amended) in this regard such as would warrant the initiation of a formal investigation by it. Equally, the Standards Commission was satisfied that there was no evidence of any breach of the Code of Conduct for Office Holders (2003), to which one of the complainants had made reference, or of section 4 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001, such as might warrant such an investigation.

The Standards Commission also considered whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant the initiation of an investigation in respect of the appointments of certain persons to the boards of public bodies. In this context, the Standards Commission considered whether there was evidence of any breach of section 14 of the 1995 Act or section 4 of the 2001 Act such as would warrant the initiation of an investigation by it. The Standards Commission concluded that there was no such evidence.

Former Minister Frank Fahey TD

The Standards Commission received a complaint from Mr Trevor Sargent TD in December 2006 about various actions of Mr Frank Fahey TD during his term of office as Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources. These included alleged "specified acts" by the former Minister in relation to the Fishing Vessels Lost at Sea Scheme; the Corrib Gas Pipeline; the MV Atlantic Dawn and the decision to construct a number of marinas. The Standards Commission informed Deputy Sargent that in order for it to consider that an investigation under section 23 of the 1995 Act was warranted, the Standards Commission must be of the opinion that there is sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case in relation to the alleged "specified act" concerned and that, if it was in fact done, it is an act falling within the provisions of section 4 of the 2001 Act. It stated that having considered each of the four aspects of the complaint as referred to above in the light of the contents of the letter of complaint, the Standards Commission was unclear as to how in each case the actions of the former Minister could be considered to be a "specified act" or acts. The Standards Commission decided that on the basis of the evidence before it, there was no prima facie case against Deputy Fahey and no basis on which it might initiate an investigation into those matters.

The complaint also related to failure to disclose an interest in a business in Moscow. The Standards Commission decided that in view of the information available to it, there was no basis on which to pursue the matter further.

In addition, the complaint related to failure to disclose an interest in an apartment in Daytona Beach, Florida, contrary to section 5 of the 1995 Act. The Standards Commission wrote to Deputy Fahey in that regard. In reply, Deputy Fahey informed the Standards Commission that he had written to the Clerk of Dáil Éireann asking him to amend the Register of Members' Interests for 2003 to include his interest in the apartment at Daytona Beach, Florida. The Clerk subsequently published an amendment to the 2003 Register to that effect. In view of this, the Standards Commission decided not to pursue the matter further.

Supply of Oireachtas envelopes

The use of Oireachtas envelopes by a candidate at the Dáil General Election, who was not a member of the Oireachtas, was brought to the attention of the Standards Commission during 2007. While the correspondence indicated that the envelopes had been supplied to the candidate by a Senator, it was not possible to determine the identity of the Senator. The Standards Commission could not therefore pursue the matter. However, the Standards Commission decided to bring the general issue to the attention of the Committee on Members' Interests for Seanad Éireann. The Standards Commission noted that the Dáil Sub-Committee on Members' Services had recommended that Oireachtas envelopes should be bar-coded so that each envelope could be traced to the Deputy to whom it was issued. It noted that this procedure had not been adopted for members of Seanad Éireann. The Standards Commission welcomed the Dáil Committee on Procedures and Privileges' decision to accept the Dáil Sub-Committee's recommendation and stated that it was regrettable that the procedure had not been adopted for members of Seanad Éireann, as this would deter Senators from supplying Oireachtas envelopes to persons not entitled to avail of them. The Committee on Members' Interests for Seanad Éireann replied saying that it had decided to bring the matter to the attention of the Seanad Committee on Procedures and Privileges to consider again the matter of bar-coding. It also wrote to all members of Seanad Éireann informing them of its view that pre-paid envelopes should not be handed over to any third party for use in an election campaign and to remind members of the provisions of the code of conduct for members of Seanad Éireann requiring them to apply public resources prudently and only for the purposes for which they are intended.

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