Fianna Fail has deferred the final adoption of its promised new code of conduct of party members, despite the controversy generated by the Foley affair.
The mandatory code of ethics was promised by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, at the Fianna Fail Ardfheis more than a year ago. On that occasion, Mr Ahern said public trust required integrity and a genuine dedication to public service from members of the party.
However, a senior Fianna Fail source confirmed last night that the proposed code of ethics had been "parked" pending the publication of the Standards in Public Office Act, due to be published in May.
The Act was first promised by the Government in July 1998, and while Cabinet agreed the heads of the Bill last October, it will not be published until after the Easter break at the earliest. "We did not want to go ahead with our own internal party code until we saw what the new legislation was proposing. You could not have two codes of conduct - an internal party document and a legal document," the source said.
Confirmation that the party had deferred the new code has come in the wake of revelations that the Fianna Fail Kerry North TD and DIRT inquiry member, Mr Denis Foley, is an Ansbacher account holder.
The Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party last year resisted moves for the code, which would require election candidates to sign a pledge to produce, if asked, "satisfactory evidence" that their tax affairs were in order. However, a draft was agreed towards the end of last year.
A 17-page "Standards in Public Life" document, which forms the basis of the code, was drawn up by a special committee on the instructions of the leadership after Mr Ahern's ardfheis pledge in November 1998.
It is understood that the question of election candidates producing a tax-clearance certificate is being considered by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who is sponsoring the Standards in Public Office Act.
A party spokesman confirmed that the final draft of the code will be discussed at the forthcoming Fianna Fail Ardfheis, which takes place in the RDS on March 3rd and 4th.
However, the code will not be sent to the parliamentary party for final ratification until the Standards in Public Office Act is published.
At the ardfheis in November 1998, the Taoiseach said a new code of conduct would be devised to help establish "a new political culture". All relevant interests should be declared and public representatives had to ensure that any conflicts of interest were clearly flagged and resolved, he said.
Mr Ahern said public representatives should act at all times with honesty and without fear or account. He proposed that the code should be underpinned by six governing principles: public service, honesty, integrity, transparency, independence and leadership.
He told delegates that it was his intention that the code should extend beyond current ethics legislation to cover councillors, party staff and Government advisers as well as Oireachtas members.
He envisaged that the code would be incorporated into a pledge to be signed by Fianna Fail candidates for election and would put a procedure for sanctions in place for breaches of its provisions.
Mr Ahern said holders of public office should act purely in terms of the public interest and "not for their own private ends".
The Standards in Public Office Bill is to provide for the establishment of a commission with the power to investigate financial irregularities by politicians or public servants.