A political adviser to Minister for Finance Brian Cowen successfully applied for clearance from a State ethics watchdog before he took up a senior job with an Australian bank seeking to finance the multi-billion euro construction of Dublin's proposed metro railway system.
Colin Hunt, who was involved in the planning for the Government's Transport 21 programme, left his post as economic adviser to Mr Cowen in the Department of Finance after the new Government was formed in mid-June.
He was approached by Australian bank Macquarie in early July with a job offer, but Mr Hunt chose to apply to the State's Outside Appointments Board, seeking permission to take up the job, before giving the Australians a reply.
Following consultations with top officials in the Departments of Finance and Transport, where he served as an adviser to Martin Cullen before moving to finance, the ethics board cleared him to take the job, without any restrictions attached.
The Outside Appointments Board, set up in September 2004, vets appointments that civil servants take within one year of resigning, or retiring from the service to determine whether, or not "a clear conflict of interest exists". The membership of the board includes Eddie O'Sullivan, secretary general, public service management and development in the Department of Finance; Dermot McCarthy, secretary general to the Government; barrister Hugh Mohan and two other outside appointees.
Under the rules, civil servants at assistant secretary rank, or above must get permission of the board if they intend, within 12 months of resigning or retiring to accept a job offer outside the service, or accept any consultancy offer where acceptance could "lead to a conflict of interest". Besides applying to senior civil servants, the restrictions also apply "to special advisers or other private office staff whose terms of office are coterminous with that of the relevant Minister/Attorney General", according to the guidelines.
