The president of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute, Gerry Slattery, urged auctioneers to be straight in their dealings with the public. He told agents at the annual IAVI conference in Waterford last weekend they should not be influenced by the promise of follow-on sales when engaged in selling one piece of property.

"We must see this for what it is - bribery," he said, telling auctioneers not to be influenced by buyers who offer them more business if they get the property they wanted. They should never forget that they were legally bound to act for the vendor and no one else.

"Our profession is built on trust," he said. "Vendors often place the most important business transaction of their lives in our hands. We must honour that trust with total commitment. Anything else is betrayal." Mr Slattery urged estate agents never to be influenced by the promise of another sale, such as when a developer buying land offers the sale of the new houses to be built there or where a purchaser promises the sale of his own property when he buys.

He said agents tempted to consider this route to self-reward "should shut up shop now, leave the profession and leave our business to honest brokers".

Degrees and professionalism were all very fine but without basic honesty and integrity they were worthless, he said.

Mr Slattery also had some advise for clients in financial, marital or other difficulties. He said selling property was not always the right option for these people. Auctioneers should see if there was a better way to sort out the problem. "If someone is in a hole, don't sell him out if you can dig him out."

He also called on the Department of the Environment to extend nationwide its measures for the regeneration of rural towns and village.