Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In his opening reply the Taoiseach said that codes of conduct for office-holders would be amended after the Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill has been enacted. If this is the case we will have a long time to wait. This Bill has been around for a long time. The Taoiseach will recall this Bill was first announced in October 2006 by the then Tánaiste, Mr. Michael McDowell, when he announced on the steps of Government Buildings that new legislation would be introduced governing payments from private persons and gifts and the size of gifts and loans being made to office-holders. He told us the Bill would be introduced as a matter of urgency. The Bill was introduced in the Seanad and it completed its passage in the Seanad in July 2007 but we have seen neither sight nor light of it since then. On a number of occasions I have asked the Taoiseach as to its whereabouts and when it would be brought into the House.

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