Office holders, Oireachtas members and various public servants would have complaints against them investigated by a commission under legislation to be introduced, the Minister for Finance said.

Mr McCreevy said this would be done under the Standards in Public Office Bill, which had yet to be finalised. The commission would be headed by a judge, or former judge, of the High Court and Supreme Court.

"It is the Government's intention that the Standards in Public Office Commission will have powers similar to those of a tribunal. We have seen in recent weeks how effective these powers can be in getting to the truth of important issues of public confidence in politics."

The commission, said Mr McCreevy, would also have the power to consider significant allegations of financial irregularities. "Clearly the investigative powers of the commission will be a substantial and credible deterrent to potential wrongdoers and will underpin public confidence in the probity of our political and administrative system."

He was speaking during the resumed debate on Labour's private member's Electoral (Amendment) (Donations to Parties and Candidates) Bill, restricting political donations to registered electors.

He said the Government Bill would also create tax clearance requirements for politicians, senior public servants and judges.

Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) said that while he favoured an end to corporate funding of political parties, he believed the Labour Bill was deeply flawed. He would support the Government amendment. The Bill also proposed to ban donations from overseas and had been included in the belief that it would damage Sinn Fein.

Mr John Gormley (Green Party, Dublin South East) said his party would support the Bill, adding that the Government Amendment was an attempt to long-finger the issue. "We believe that spending by parties and individuals should be capped, not just at election time, but also between elections."

The PD Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Bobby Molloy, said the law governing political donations was conceived, drafted and enacted just three short years ago by Fine Gael and Labour.

Indicating that he would support the Labour Bill, Mr Joe Hig- gins, (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said he had seen what went on in Dublin County Council in the early 1990s.

The Fine Gael report on funding, he added, had failed to get to grips with "the sleazy, seamy relationships between landowners and developers and councillors from the rezoning alliance of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and sometimes the PDs as they mingled for their dinners, golf classics and political fund-raisers".

Ms Austin Currie (FG, Dublin West) recalled that when he had first run for the Dail in 1989 he had commented on how cynical the electorate was. "It now transpires that even the most cynical could not have suspected one-tenth of what was going on."

Mr Pat Rabbitte (Labour, Dublin South West) said that instead of wringing hands about imminent political armageddon, the House should accept the principle of the Labour Party Bill and allocate €1,000 million of the Budget surplus towards the compulsory purchase of lands, especially in Dublin, for housing.