Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 91:

In page 20, line 4, to delete “paragraph (a), (e) or (f) of”.

This relates to the exemption of Deputies, Senators, MEPs and councillors from the requirement to obtain pre-authorisation by way of application to SIPOC if they wish to take up employment as a lobbyist within two years - the defined cooling-off period - of leaving public office. I do not think that should be the case. Notwithstanding that these would not be people who were members of Government when exiting the system and taking up this employment, nonetheless they, or we, could be reasonably depicted as insiders and therefore potentially influence peddlers. My amendment seeks to strike the exemption of Deputies, Senators, MEPs and councillors from those requirements.
Amendments Nos. 92 and 93 relate to the cooling-off period required before somebody can uninhibitedly work as a lobbyist without clearance by anybody. The Bill sets the conditional period at one year and I believe it would be more appropriate to set it at two years. We have had this discussion on cooling-off periods previously in respect of other legislation. I do not believe two years is excessively onerous. It is reasonable, all the more so because it is not an absolute prohibition but just a period of time within which conditions have to be met and clearance has to be given to the individual in question to take up a lobbyist's role.