Mr. Brian McKevitt:

No. The requirements regarding declarations of interest vary from public body to public body. I am not sure at what level officials within the local authorities must make declarations, whether it is below director of services or not. In other public bodies it varies enormously. I know, for example, that in the Revenue Commission, staff officers - a relatively low grade - who have a direct involvement in deciding on tax matters for individuals are covered. In other bodies, it might only concern people at principal officer level and above. A long and repeated set of regulations sets out the category of people covered. One of the advantages of this legislation is that it spells out the categories of people who will be obliged to make a declaration of interests. This includes category A, making public declarations for themselves, category B, making private declarations, and category C, for making a declaration when there is an actual conflict of interest. Everybody is covered one way or another. That is not the case currently.