Double-jobbing by professional officers in the local government service - engineers, architects, technicians and even planners - has been going on for years, even decades. But it is only now being officially acknowledged, dealt with and, in some cases, rooted out.
The traditional approach of most county and city managers had been to "turn a blind eye", even though the dogs in the street knew that some officials were engaged in serial double-jobbing, designing houses, driveways and septic tanks for private clients - for fees, of course.
Over the years, numerous people have contacted The Irish Times with such stories of petty corruption in local government. However, even in cases where this was endemic, there was little or no willingness to carry out thorough investigations - at least until now.
Since the start of this year, reports of moonlighting by local authority officials to supplement their relatively low rates of pay have appeared almost weekly in the media, with the focus on Roscommon, Kilkenny, Galway, Sligo and now - most seriously of all - Kerry.
The floodgates were opened on January 1st by Mr Eddie Sheehy, then Roscommon county manager, when he announced the results of a two-month investigation into allegations of "double-jobbing" by some of the council's professional staff.
Just one day before leaving to take up his current post as Wicklow county manager, Mr Sheehy revealed that one official had resigned, another had been suspended and a third was still under investigation for breaching the regulations issued in 1984 (see panel).
Three days later, the Department of the Environment and Local Government sent a circular letter to every county and city manager requesting them to take personal responsibility for "checking the position" in their authorities and to report back within three months".
The letter said "the recent incidents involving staff in Roscommon have brought sharply into focus the whole issue of local authority staff engaging in activities which are incompatible with their official roles" and it expressed concern that this might be widespread. "This brings the integrity of the whole planning system and of all of the staff of the local government system into question and is a matter which must be addressed immediately by every manager," said the letter, which was signed by Mr Jim Lillis, principal officer.
He recalled that two earlier circulars had been issued on the matter - one in 1984, coinciding with new local government regulations which prohibit officials from engaging in private work, and the other in 1996 requesting that "appropriate action" be taken to uphold them.
Specifically, the latter circular drew attention to a section of the 1994 Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations which requires that the name and address of individuals preparing plans and drawings accompanying planning applications must be indicated.
But despite a requirement that these names should be checked against the names of officers of the local authority, Mr Lillis said the "perception" remained that breaches of the double-jobbing regulations were still occurring and "more thorough checks" were now necessary.
What the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, was seeking from each county or city manager was "confirmation that . . . you are now satisfied that no member of your staff is currently involved in private activities which are incompatible with his or her official role".
The letter also said it was clear that there "is a need to again draw the attention of all staff to the regulations relating to private activities and to seek from each relevant member of staff a statement that they are aware of these regulations and that they comply with them".
The reports requested from county and city managers are due in this week and are being awaited by the Department "with bated breath", as one source put it. But, taken together, they are unlikely to reveal the full extent of the culture of "nixerism" in the local government service.
Unless there were specific allegations or "stories" about named officials circulating locally, most county and city managers did not carry out thorough investigations. Instead, they simply sought assurances from their staff that they were complying with the regulations.
Certainly, none has been as exhaustive as the inquiry ordered by the Kerry county manager, Mr Martin Nolan, which involved examining more than 4,000 planning applications to the Kerry authorities last year, of which 148 were found to be associated with 27 of their officials.
Next Monday, in a potentially even more serious development, Kerry county councillors will decide on an amendment to the county plan requiring planners to take into account a farmer's "financial need" in deciding whether to approve plans for bungalows in scenic areas.
Here most councillors - led by Mr Michael Healy-Rae, whose father helps to keep the Coalition Government in power - are trying to overcome quite legitimate planning restrictions so that they can sort things out for their constituents.
It is all part of the same culture.