The Standards in Public Office Commission has told PD Minister of State Tom Parlon he should not endorse commercial products after he appeared in an ad for cattle feed made by a friend.
The commission, which received a complaint about the incident from Fine Gael several months ago, has decided not to hold a formal investigation under ethics legislation.
However, it has written to the former Irish Farmers Association president saying it regards his appearance in the ad as not being in keeping with the spirit of the code of conduct for office holders.
The advertisement, which appeared in the farming supplement of the Irish Independent, featured Mr Parlon holding a bag of calf feed. The ad was for Grennan & Sons and featured testimonials from three farmers, including Mr Parlon.
He said at the time he had not been paid for the ad.
Mr Parlon said yesterday he would not engage in such activity again. "I fully accept the position of the commission and will be informed by this in any future dealings," he said.
The commission said it is "of the view that serving office holders should not be directly associated with the endorsement of a particular commercial product, unless such is required in the performance by the office holder of his/her official functions".
Mr Parlon said he had contacted the Taoiseach, told him what the commission had said, and advised him "that I will in future comply fully with the spirit of the code".