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

I am very pleased to see a general scheme for this type of legislation at last. It is long overdue, and Mr. Beausang alluded to some of the reasons for that in his presentation. It is also very necessary.

Head 5, which deals with public declarable interests, states that "[p]ublic declarable interests are the following in any 3 consecutive 4-month periods" and goes on to set out different thresholds, such as "the source of income in excess of €2,600 from any remunerated trade, profession, employment or other occupation." Could Mr. Beausang explain the rationale by which that part has been structured? Different financial thresholds are given, one of which I have just read out. Why was that figure of €2,600 chosen?

Head 5 also refers to "any estate or interest the public official has in land (other than a family home) in excess of €10,000". Why was that figure chosen? How was the figure of €13,000 reached in the next paragraph, which refers to "any beneficial or legal interest or holding in shares or bonds or debentures, or other like investments, in a particular company or other enterprise or undertaking (which does not relate to land or any business of dealing in or developing land) at any time during the appropriate period"? I am curious to know how the officials settled on those benchmarks or limits.