Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The amendment seeks to prevent current and former political officeholders from being appointed as auditors regarding a designated online platform's compliance with online safety codes or their complaints handling systems. I am not accepting the amendment as, in particular, I am not sure what is the value in preventing a former political officeholder, especially a member of a local authority, from being appointed as an auditor. Realistically, appointed auditors are likely to be firms providing professional services rather than individuals and it would be strange to prevent the appointment of a firm as an auditor on the basis that a member of its staff used to be a councillor.

If the Deputies’ concerns relate to cooling-off periods more generally for persons holding public office, then that would be a matter for the Standards in Public Office Commission.