Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. We all appreciate that standards in public office are hugely important in order to maintain public trust and public confidence in our democratic system and, indeed, in democracy itself. It has been generally acknowledged that standards have been improving in recent years and it is very important that we keep that trend going, that we do not allow standards to slip and that we do not return to the bad old days from which we are still trying to recover. We believe these standards should be applied consistently and fairly in this House, for both the Opposition and the Government and in the Independent benches as well because the very first person we should all hold to account is ourself. It is on that basis that I and my colleagues in the Regional Group are very keen to strengthen, upgrade and modernise the ethics Act, in particular in relation to SIPO. Any dealings I have had with SIPO have been very professional and very proper. It has consistently been looking for three things, namely, greater powers to audit, greater powers to investigate and powers to actually sanction. The audit function in particular is very important in order that we get ahead of these issues. We would certainly be supportive of any proposals to strengthen SIPO in that regard.

I have three questions for the Minister and it would be very helpful to the House if he could enlighten us, if he feels it appropriate. The first relates to the SIPO letter he received on Friday. I am always very conscious of the autonomy and the operational independence of SIPO but it would be useful if the Minister could indicate if SIPO suggested it will make a decision by a particular date on whether to dismiss the complaint or progress it to a preliminary inquiry. If the Minister could divulge that it would be very helpful. Regarding the businessman who is caught up in this inquiry - I do not want to mention his name because there is no allegation of wrongdoing about him at all - could the Minister just confirm again that he was entitled to be remunerated for the two State jobs but waived that entitlement? Is that still the case? Finally, there are questions to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform scheduled for 10.30 a.m. tomorrow. I will be here asking a question myself. Which Minister will be attending?

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