John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Section 16(1) sets out the situation regarding disclosure. It provides that the disclosure requirements cover members of the authority or a committee, staff members, directors or staff of a subsidiary, consultants and advisers. It also specifically provides that where such a person has a monetary or other beneficial interest in the matter under consideration by the authority, it must be disclosed and the interest holder must not be involved in dealing with the matter by influencing in the decision or partaking in a discussion at a meeting.

As far as I am concerned, this is a standard provision which, for example, applies to local authority members at local authority meetings, meetings of its sub-committees or constituent bodies. In the same way, it applies at Cabinet. We must be reasonable and decide whether a matter is, in the eyes of a reasonable person, so remote as not to affect the issue involved. It is not really possible to set in stone an objective benchmark against which one can measure whether a matter is so remote as to affect one's judgment or interest.