Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The content of the two questions about advertising procedures was raised last week. I have just been checking again what the procedures are. In the case that came up last week, it was the Dublin Transportation Office that organised the advertisement. I am conscious that such issues should be restricted to the Departments concerned so that unnecessary arguments do not arise. We must keep within the regulations that are in place. Last week's issue, as I understand it, was kept within those rules and regulations.

As regards what occurs between elections, while some changes were made on that front, following the Supreme Court case in 2002, I understand Members can still keep their staff in their constituency offices. They can deal with constituency work, but cannot be involved in issues that are related to the election. I assume this means they can deal with the normal issues of representation but cannot be involved in forwarding election literature or participating in campaign matters, beyond dealing with ongoing issues. The situation is confined to where it was before.

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