The Government last year rejected proposals from the State's ethics body that would have barred top local authority officials from being hired by businesses and property developers immediately after they quit State employment.
The then minister for the environment and local government, Martin Cullen produced a code of conduct for local authority staff in May 2004.
Under the Local Government Act 2001, the Minister was required to consult with the Standards in Public Office Commission before finalising the text of the code.
The commission, which is headed by former High Court judge, Mr Justice Matthew P Smith, urged that top council officials, such as senior planners, should be barred from taking up posts in the private sector unless they received clearance from a specially-appointed committee.
However, the Minister declined to accept this recommendation - even though the Government did enforce an identical obligation a few months later on senior civil servants quitting Government departments.
The information emerged during the first-ever appearance yesterday of members of the commission, led by its chairman, before the Oireachtas Finance and General Affairs Committee, chaired by Fianna Fáil Laois/Offaly TD, Seán Fleming.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell, a member of the commission, said the then minister for the Environment had "taken some certain minor observations on board" about the local authority code of conduct.
However, he said the commission had believed that there were areas where the original text produced by the Department of Environment and Local Government should have been "beefed up".
"We felt that a moratorium [on officials joining private companies for a year] would not have been unreasonable," he told the Oireachtas Finance and General Affairs Committee.
Meanwhile, the commission chairman yesterday expressed disappointment that local authority staff are not covered by his body's work.
"Local authorities do not come within our remit. I feel possibly that they should. It is one area where corruption is more likely to arise than anywhere else in the public service," he told Labour TD, Joan Burton.
However, Mr Justice Smith paid tribute to the Government and to the political system in general for the changes made to ethics legislation in recent years.
"In the area of standards in public life, what has occurred in legislative terms in a relatively short period of time has been, by any objective measure, hugely impressive. It is regrettable, therefore, that so little attention has been afforded to these developments."
Meanwhile, the commission has complained that existing legislation is hampering its ability to investigate complaints against politicians, because it cannot appoint an officer to probe allegations unless it receives a formal complaint. "That is seen by the standards commission as a shortcoming in the legislation which inhibits the full and efficient performance of its functions," said Mr Justice Smith, who highlighted, in particular, the recent investigation into Mr Cullen's handling of public relations contracts during his time in Environment.
If the commission inquires on its own initiative, without receiving a public complaint, it is limited to seeking discovery of documents, studying those papers and then reaching a conclusion, Mr Justice Smith told the Oireachtas committee.
Meanwhile, the usefulness of tax clearance certificates required of politicians under ethics legislation has been questioned because their accuracy, or otherwise, cannot be checked, the judge said.
The commission, which is to issue its latest annual report shortly, does not favour an increase in the election spending limits - despite Fianna Fáil's clear wish last year for major increases.