Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 149: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will amend the Electoral Act 1997 to give the Standards in Public Offices Commission the power to appoint an investigation officer to assess compliance with ethics legislation on the part of public representatives and officials; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33237/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he will amend the Electoral Act 1997 to give the Standards in Public Offices Commission the power to initiate an investigation without a formal complaint; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33238/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 149 and 150 together.

The Ethics Acts (i.e. the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001) already allow the Standards in Public Office Commission, where it considers it appropriate to do so, to launch 'own initiative' investigations, where no formal complaint has been made. Issues concerning non-office holding members of the Oireachtas would be, in the first instance, a matter for the Select Committee on Members' Interests of the relevant House.

As regards inquiry officers, the Ethics Acts already allow the Standards in Public Office Commission, where it has received a formal complaint, to request an inquiry officer to carry out a preliminary inquiry into the complaint. As I have already stated in response to other parliamentary questions, I do not intend to amend the legislation to allow the Standards Commission to appoint inquiry officers where a formal complaint has not been made.