Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 May 2020
124. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 147 of 5 March 2020, the timeline for the review of recommendation 12 by the Standards in Public Office Commission (details supplied) with regard to the one-year cooling off period for designated public officials, DPOs, who seek to engage in lobbying activities. [4255/20]
View answer125. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 147 of 5 March 2020, the data protection provisions to which he is referring in response to recommendation 17 by the Standards in Public Office Commission which seeks to publish summary details of investigations under section 19 of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. [4256/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 124 and 125 together.
The Deputy is referring to recommendations made by the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Commission) in its submission to the second statutory review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (the Act).
Recommendation 12 made by the Commission states, "Failure to comply with section 22 of the Act (either in relation to submitting an application for consent, where required, or in relation to complying with the Commission's decision on an application for consent) should be a relevant contravention under section 18 of the Act and an offence under section 20 of the Act".
Section 22 deals with restrictions on designated public officials in relation to post term employment as a lobbyist. Recommendation 12 is seeking an amendment so that it would be an offence to contravene section 22. As outlined in the conclusion to the Second Statutory Review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, it is not recommended that any amendments be made to the Act. The third statutory review of the Act is required to commence by the 1st of September 2022. Further consideration regarding any amendment of the Act will be examined by my Department as part of the third review of the Act in 2022.
Recommendation 17 made by the Commission states, "The Commission should be allowed to publish summary details of investigations under section 19 of the Act". Section 25 of the Act already provides for the Commission to prepare an annual lobbying report to include, in a form which does not enable the identification of the persons involved, information relating to any investigations under section 19 of the Act, that were concluded in that particular year.
As the Deputy will understand, I am not be at liberty to disclose the full details of legal advice provided to my Department by the Office of the Attorney General (AGO), apart from outlining in a general manner that advice received from the AGO was that it would not be possible to include naming and shaming provisions as part of administrative penalties, as this would contravene data protection provisions. In relation specifically to investigations under the Act, advice was received by my Department that privacy should be respected and personal information should not be released.
It is always open to the Commission, as a data controller, to seek the advice of the Data Protection Commissioner in relation to any issues that arise in the context of its annual lobbying report.
