TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen favours a buffer zone of "some months", before civil servants or local government officials can take up employment in related areas in the private sector.
Mr Cowen would not specify a time period but said "some months would be a fair assessment as people should not be denied the opportunity to make a livelihood, having retired and given loyal service to the State. It is not appropriate for us to suggest, for some reason, a contamination-free zone".
He also confirmed increases in thresholds on gifts and shareholdings before officeholders and members of the Oireachtas have to declare them, from €650 to €2,000 for gifts and for a shareholding or interest in land from €13,000 to €20,000.
Answering Opposition questions in the Dáil last week about the Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007, the Taoiseach said the buffer zone "is about simply providing some reassurance that there is a time period in which people can reorganise their lives and move on to something else".
He said that "during my period of service, I have come across just a couple of cases in which inquiries have had to be made to ascertain what would help to avoid any semblance of controversy".
Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said the buffer zone needed to be more than a few months because a planning official might be involved in a variation proposal, a local area plan proposal or a development plan review, which would take up to a year. "There is a particular issue regarding planning officials that might not be the case for Ministers of State."
The Taoiseach agreed it was a matter that needed "fuller consideration". It was about providing "balance" and "some reassurance". He agreed there was "substance" to the point about planning and said there were ways of doing this, perhaps through a code of conduct.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the increase in gift and shareholding thresholds were "considerably in excess of inflation" when the original ethics legislation provided for increases in line with inflation.
