SIPO won’t say if it complied with ethics law
SIPO won’t say if it – as required by law – investigated a member of the Oireachtas who failed to submit proof of their tax compliance.
SIPO won’t say if it – as required by law – investigated a member of the Oireachtas who failed to submit proof of their tax compliance.
The Ditch reported last week that the state ethics watchdog finished last year without a single investigation underway last year despite a huge rise in complaints against public officials.
The report also disclosed that one unidentified Oireachtas member's tax clearance return remained outstanding at the end of 2025.
SIPO is required by law to investigate this – but won’t say if it did.
Under Section 21 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 when a member fails to submit evidence of their tax compliance within nine months SIPO “shall investigate the matter and shall draw up a report in writing of the result of the investigation”.
The report must then be sent to the Dáil or Seanad committee on members interests and formally laid before the Oireachtas.
SIPO said it takes ethics “seriously”.
A spokesperson said while SIPO “cannot comment on individual cases, we can say that the commission takes such breaches seriously and follows the statutory procedures set out in the Ethics Acts in terms of investigation and subsequent sharing and publishing of the resulting investigation report”.
