Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell, said the decision by SIPO to delay the release of their report on Robert Troy’s failure to correctly record his assets in the Register of Members Interests underscores that the institution is not fit for purpose.

Teachta Farrell said:

“SIPO is not fit for purpose. There’s nobody on the other side of that argument. All parties in the Oireachtas supported the Public Sector Standards Bill (2015) which was to dissolve SIPO and replace it with a new Standards Commissioner.

“The Standards Commissioner would have real teeth, unlike the toothless institution that is SIPO. It would have been given quasi judicial powers. That bill was a government bill. It was to give scope to the findings of the various tribunals over the years.

“But it never manages to get past the Finance Committee, which is always chaired by a government appointee. It is very curious. It has been in every program for government since then. But still we see no progress.

“I highlighted this fact during the last Dáil. The Minister for Public Expenditure told me that they needed to have a review in lieu of just reintroducing it. What did the review find?

“That they should have gone ahead with the bill and got it over the line.

“So long as SIPO remains in its current form we cannot expect any serious improvement in accountability. There is no punishment for failing to properly disclose your interests. All that is required is to correct the record. That is it.

“I brought forward various bills in the last Dáil to change this situation, but none were ever passed. Will it be a case of more of the same in the new Dáil? We’ll see.”