New ethics bill ‘will be allowed to die’

THE ethics legislation demanded by Tánaiste Michael McDowell as a condition for staying in Government after the “BertieGate” loans row will not become law before the General Election, it was claimed yesterday.

The Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007 was finally nearly seven months after the revelations that Bertie Ahern had accepted loans and gifts in the early 1990s.

Last October, Mr McDowell had promised it would be introduced as a “matter of urgency”.