Sipo calls for powers to run rule over former Oireachtas members

The State’s political ethics watchdog has called for legislation to close a loophole that means potential misconduct of Oireachtas members cannot be investigated after they leave their roles.

Currently the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) commission can investigate breaches of ethics rules by office holders, such as Ministers and Ministers of State, even after they have left their positions.

Complaints about backbench TDs and Senators can be investigated by the Clerks of the Dáil and Seanad, or the Dáil Members’ Interests Committee, but not after they have left office.

Sherry Perreault, head of ethics and lobbying regulation at Sipo, said this was a significant "lacuna" in the legislation.

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The commission’s annual report, published on Friday, called for this loophole to be addressed by the Government.

“There have been a few instances where it has come up and the commission has been precluded from looking at it,” Ms Perreault said.

Given powers

She said Sipo did not have a preference for whether it was the commission or the Oireachtas that was given powers to investigate former TDs and senators.

The commission’s report said it had received several queries in 2019 about whether the conduct of a former Oireachtas member could be investigated.

Last year former Fine Gael TD Dara Murphy was at the centre of a controversy over his non-attendance at Leinster House, while claiming a Dáil salary and expenses.

He resigned his Dáil seat in December 2019 and took up a position with the European Commission in Brussels, having spent much of the previous two years working with the European People's Party, to which Fine Gael is affiliated.

Following the controversy both Sipo and the Dáil Members’ Interests Committee indicated they had no powers to investigate Mr Murphy, as he was no longer a TD.

The commission’s annual report said it was “unsatisfactory that one category of public officials should not be accountable once they have left office, while others can still be called to account”.

It called for legislation to address the “anomaly” and ensure all former public officials could be subject to inquiries over their past conduct, “notwithstanding their departure from their previous positions”.

Ms Perreault said while she would not comment on individual cases, the commission had seen a number of cases in recent years in which they had been powerless to open inquiries into former backbench members.

Ms Perreault said an overhaul of existing ethics legislation was “long overdue and” and welcomed commitments by the Government to set up an electoral commission.

The commission’s report also highlighted shortcomings with the current code of conduct for office holders.

‘Undesirable’

Ministers were advised that holding paid company directorships while in office was “undesirable”, which the commission said was “insufficient”.”

The rules should be strengthened to ensure office holders resign from any directorships “to avoid both real and perceived conflicts of interest with their duties”, it said.

The report also noted some political parties operate in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, with different limits around political donations in the two jurisdictions.

There was “nothing illegal” about the practice, but given the different ethics regimes it could have the effect of “benefiting or disadvantaging a party”, the report said.

The commission recommended any electoral commission set up explore this matter further.