Fianna Fáil is to pay €2,590.40 to the Department of Education to cover the cost of Government facilities and Civil Service staff time used to prepare briefing material for party candidates in the local elections.
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, yesterday apologised to his Cabinet colleagues and to the Dáil for ordering departmental staff to prepare information manuals for Fianna Fáil candidates.
This follows a finding by the Standards in Public Office Commission, the ethics watchdog, that the Minister did not have regard for the Code of Conduct for office holders in the affair.
The commission's finding is deeply embarrassing for Mr Dempsey, who provoked a storm of Opposition protest when it emerged that he had used Government facilities for party political purposes in April. Mr Dempsey was Fianna Fáil's director of elections for north Leinster.
At the time, the Taoiseach publicly rebuked Mr Dempsey and the Minister of State for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Frank Fahey, for sending invitations to a party fund-raiser on Government-headed notepaper.
The commission will not launch an investigation, but Mr Dempsey said that it took the view "that I did not have regard to and was not guided by the terms of the Code of Conduct" for office holders.
If the value of the benefit of alleged incorrect behaviour by an office holder is less than €12,700, the commission has discretion to decide whether to launch an investigation. The sum to be repaid includes €554 to cover staff costs, €136 for paper, €700 for photocopying and €1,200 for the Department of Education folders in which the information was presented to candidates.The commission will make an announcement tomorrow.