Commission wants judge as chairman

The Public Offices Commission should be chaired by a High Court or Supreme Court judge to improve its ability to carry out investigations under the Ethics Act, the commission's annual report has recommended.

The report proposes that rather than sitting as a tribunal from the outset of any investigation, the commission should be able first to appoint an inspector to examine the facts.

The structural changes are necessary, it says, in the light of the "increasingly adversarial nature of the current tribunals", a model a commission investigation would be likely to follow. But the report adds that even without the suggested reforms the commission believes it can competently conduct an inquiry if called upon. The commission has the power to instigate investigations into breaches of the Ethics Act alleged to have occurred since the legislation took effect in 1995. No complaint had been received up to the end of last year, the report says. But it adds that if an investigation was necessary it could involve the commission in work similar to the ongoing tribunals.

Given that its members have full-time duties to perform in their other capacities, the commission doubts its ability to "to provide the high level of ongoing commitment which would attach to the conduct of a major investigation". The appointment of a judge as chairman "would strengthen the legal dimension", the report says.

The document says that with the current focus on ethics in public life, not enough recognition is being given to the fact that there is now "a far-reaching regulatory regime" involving the Ethics Act and the Electoral Acts.

"This legislation did not exist when matters being inquired into by the Flood and Moriarty tribunals occurred. To fail to give credit for the legislative developments that have taken place is unfair to the body politic, and does nothing to encourage confidence on the part of the citizenry in the democratic process."

The report adds that despite much advertising, the public had shown virtually no interest in inspecting the donation statements, election expenditure statements and other documents put on public display by the commission.