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’
The legislation underpinning the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo), Ireland’s ethics oversight body, was introduced in the mid-1990s as a reaction to tribunal revelations of big donations to politicians.
We need to look no further than Charles Haughey, who is once again in the news with a landmark biography on his life published last week by Professor Gary Murphy. The former taoiseach received more than IR£9 million in personal donations over a 17-year period. ...