Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There are guidelines, codes of conduct and the ethics Acts, and the Standards in Public Office Commission has laid down what people should do. I do all I can to bring to their attention what is contained in the Acts and guidelines and refer to it every year when they have to fill up their form. I hope people comply with that. The Cabinet secretariat brings home to people the rules and guidelines by which people should abide. A sufficient number of events have happened in recent years for people to understand that and I do my utmost to ensure that. I cannot always be sure that every facet is complete but I hope they do that and I strongly emphasise it to them. It is a separate point to the one I am arguing. On the other one, we need clarification to hold on to systems that are beneficial to us, but as far as the ethics Acts and the Standards in Public Office Commission codes of practice are concerned, I continually highlight to them that they should stay 100% within those guidelines.

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