Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There have been very few breaches of the code. Ministers have sometimes not been careful enough or have inadvertently allowed literature go out and three or four of them have had to pay back in that regard. With regard to the advertising which involved Deputy Callely, the Standards in Public Office Commission gave a view which I brought to the attention of all. It is a difficult area where Ministers have to promote something but cannot be seen to promote themselves. The code gives the guideline people should follow.

On the issue of officials, it would be wrong for civil servants to be asked to go to a parliamentary party meeting in terms of our general parliamentary meetings. However, it has always been the practice, and I have seen this in Opposition as well as in Government, that if a Bill, proposal or certain data is on the agenda, a civil servant may come along to explain the issue. The civil servant in question just gives the departmental position and I do not see anything wrong in that. It could, in fact, be good from the point of view of providing information. This practice has been around a long time and is good, but it would not be good for a civil servant to be in on a parliamentary meeting where all of the party business is on the agenda. I do not see anything wrong with the civil servant being invited to brief party committees that are working on a particular proposal. That is good and all parties do it from time to time. The civil servants should not, of course, be asked to do anything other than explain or answer questions on what is being done. They should not engage in party political discussion.

See this speech in context