The public hearing into the alleged breach of the Ethics in Public Office Act by the former Minister of State, Mr Ned O'Keeffe, will begin later this month. The inquiry, to be carried out by the Public Offices Commission, is the first public examination of a politician under the ethics legislation. The allegations concern Mr O'Keeffe's declaration under the Act in relation to his Co Cork pig farm. He resigned as a Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture in February.
The chairman of the commission, Mr Kevin Murphy, yesterday said that since it was their first investigation they had put lot of effort into it.
He said there had been a lot of contact with the Fianna Fail TD's legal team in relation to the proceedings over the last few months. "We were anxious that we would not hold our investigation and afterwards find we were into all sorts of procedural things."
At present, he said, the commission was giving Mr O'Keeffe's legal team the statement of case against him. The hearing would begin at the end of July. The Co Cork TD had asked that it would be public, he added.
The inquiry has to find out if there has been a contravention, whether it was serious, inadvertent, negligent or reckless, and to produce a report to that effect.