Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As the Ceann Comhairle stated, the Deputy's latter question is a matter for the Minister for Finance. The matter will obviously be considered but if the Deputy were to submit a parliamentary question directly to the Minister, he might elicit a more comprehensive reply.

On the question relating to thresholds, these are matters of judgment. When I was Minister for Finance, I consulted the select committees on Members interests of both Houses with regard to the proposals contained in the Bill before its publication last year. The Seanad committee agreed with the proposals, while the Dáil committee welcomed them and indicated that they would further strengthen the accountability of Members of the Oireachtas.

With regard to accepting a proposal from the commission that we might allow inquiries or investigations to be made in the absence of a complaint, the law already enables the Standards in Public Office Commission to carry out investigations on its own initiative. Such investigations are full-scale in nature and are carried out by the commission itself. The commission is allowed to appoint an inquiry officer in order to ascertain whether there is evidence to sustain a complaint where it has received one. The launch of an inquiry by an inquiry officer could have serious and adverse consequences for any person who was the subject of that inquiry. It is not unreasonable that someone should be obliged to lodge a complaint before that happens. There are numerous categories of people, including the general public, who might make complaints of this nature against officeholders and public servants who come within the commission's purview.

The Deputy inquired about exceptional circumstances. If the circumstances were so exceptional, then one would expect someone to make a complaint. In any event, there is no doubt that the Standards in Public Office Commission would come under increasing pressure to appoint inquiry officers in circumstances that are less and less exceptional. The result would be the holding of inquiries where no one had actually complained but where there could be serious consequences for the persons who were the subject of such inquiries. That would not be fair.

As already stated, the commission has the right to initiate an investigation in the absence of a complaint. If it wishes to appoint an inquiry officer, this should be done on the basis of a complaint received. I do not believe the system, which is fair to people on all sides, should be changed. People act on the basis of complaint and not on their own initiative. Also, the adverse consequences for the person concerned stand during the course of the process even where a complaint has not been made.

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