The code of conduct for office holders, to be published next week, will have the force of law and be used in evidence against people if they do not follow it, the Taoiseach has warned.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil that politicians were now a "well-regulated group of people. There is a rule for almost everything. We all have to go through our form-filling exercise. The code sets that out and this is the way politicians will have to conduct their business from now on."
The code will be published by the Standards in Public Office Commission on July 3rd, and based on the 2001 Act, it deals with the conduct of all Government Ministers, the Attorney General (if an Oireachtas member) the chair and deputy chair of Oireachtas committees.
Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, and Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, called for the Taoiseach to look again at the code so as to include the value of Ministers' departmental facilities, such as the running of Ministerial cars, in making election spending declarations.
Mr Ahern refused to do so. "I will not, as I do not believe many of the facilities at a Minister's disposal as a Minister have anything to do with being elected.
"If we are to go into that area, we would have to look at what organisations receive State money that are politically motivated and consider whether that should be taken into account with regard to the candidates to which they align themselves."
Mr Ahern said in his returns he included "everything because I am unsure whether items should be included". Someone could "then work out whether I should have included certain items. If they are not included, there is criticism for not doing so and I have been on the receiving end of this on a few occasions."
Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, asked why "one officeholder overshoot by €28,000 while another, equidistant from Dublin, does not overshoot at all".
Mr Ahern said that Commission issued standards at election time and "some Ministers included more than was necessary and others did not".
