Elaine Byrne: Ethics watchdog is a bystander when it comes to misbehaviour

In regulating TD’s misbehaviours, the Standards in Public Office Commission is effectively a sanctions-free zone, while the outgoing Ombudsman Peter Tyndall says that he has ‘never known anything more unfit for purpose’

Peter Tyndall: the outgoing Ombudsman expressed his frustration with Ireland’s ethics legislation. Picture: Maura Hickey