ETHICS LEGISLATION should be changed to make it easier for politicians and officials to be investigated, the Standards in Public Office Commission has said.
The commission says it "regrets" Taoiseach Brian Cowen's refusal to heed its recommendations, which were made "in the light of experience", it said.
Meanwhile, the commission has said spending by political parties before the official declaration of an election campaign should be regulated.
Currently, the ethics body must hold a full-blown inquiry into an allegation levelled against a politician or official, or else do nothing at all.
So far, the commission has only once called a public hearing into the conduct of an office-holder: the then minister of state Ned O'Keeffe, who promptly resigned.
"Because of the implications of an investigation for an office-holder, for example, the standards commission has been extremely reluctant to take such a step," the commission said yesterday in its annual report.
Instead, the commission wants to be able to hold private inquiries in the absence of a complaint which would have "no adverse effects" on innocent parties.
"It would give effect to the intention of the legislation which is to allow the standards commission to consider effectively, and if necessary, investigate, matters which may be of serious public importance and may obviate the need to trigger the 'nuclear option', namely a full-blown public inquiry which could be disproportionate in certain circumstances," it said.
Meanwhile, some members of the public found it difficult to frame a valid complaint due to the legislation's complexity.
"The relatively low number of complaints received by the standards commission may well be due, at least in part, to this difficulty," it said.
Politicians who tell the commission that they applied for, but had not yet got, a tax clearance certificate, should be legally obliged to furnish it to the commission immediately they receive it.
Criticising existing political donation rules, the ethics body said political parties spent over €11 million on last year's election, yet disclosed just €1.12 million in donations.
"This means that it is not known, therefore, how the parties financed their election campaigns in 2007," said commission chairman Mr Justice Mathew P Smith.
Under the decade-old ethics law, politicians must disclose the identity of anyone who gives them more than €634 a year, and must not accept more than €2,539 from anyone.
"It is clear to the standards commission that parties are soliciting donations below the donations threshold," said Mr Justice Smith.
A "great deal" of spending by the parties "goes unaccounted for" because the clock on spending only starts once a campaign has been officially called.
Parties should be required to keep proper, audited accounts, list all donations received, and identify donors in the case of donations over a certain value.
Senators have still not accepted that envelopes supplied to them by the Oireachtas should be bar-coded to prevent them being abused.
The commission failed to track down a senator who gave freepost Oireachtas envelopes to a Dáil election candidate in last year's election.
Envelopes supplied to TDs are bar-coded to ensure that their subsequent use can be tracked, following a recommendation by a Dáil committee.
The commission apologised to Trish Forde-Brennan, who unsuccessfully ran for the Green Party in Limerick East, for losing her expenses statement.
