Former Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Mr Ned O’Keeffe, did not understand the "elaborate code" of the Ethics in Public Office Act and "doesn’t think he breached the Act", his counsel said today.
Mr O'Keeffe is accused of breaching ethics legislation last November when he voted against a Labour Party motion to ban the licensing of plants that produce meat and bone meal as part of BSE-restriction measures.
Mr O'Keeffe's family owns one of 17 plants licensed to produce the meal and also owns a Co Cork pig farm. He resigned as Minister of State last February.
Mr John Rodgers SC, for Mr O’Keeffe, in his closing submission to the first public examination of a politician under the ethics legislation, said his client had not deliberately failed to disclose financial "additional interests" regarding the family-owned meal plant.
Mr Rodgers said the Act was difficult to understand and Mr O’Keeffe simply did not comprehend what he was meant to reveal. He also reminded the Commission of his client’s 20 years of valuable public service.
He said some of the 30 sections of the Act were "virtually impenetrable to seasoned lawyers" and said when he asked Labour leader Mr Ruairi Quinn what "additional interests" referred to, it was "quite plain Deputy Quinn didn’t know".
Earlier today Mr Quinn said he was "horrified" Mr O'Keeffe had failed to disclose a "material interest" when voting in a private members motion in the Dail last year.
Counsel for the Public Offices Commission Mr Frank Clarke SC told the hearing he believed Mr O'Keeffe did not think his family business interests constituted a "material interest" in the debate.
However, Mr Clarke said: "There was an obligation generally to make the appropriate disclosure to both the Taoiseach and Public Offices Commission".
The Ombudsman and Public Offices Commission chairman, Mr Kevin Murphy, is chairing the inquiry.
The hearing concluded today and a report by the Commission is expected shortly.