Ms Sherry Perreault:

Good afternoon. I thank the members of the committee very much for the invitation to appear before the committee today. As the Vice Chairman said, I am head of ethics and lobbying regulation with the Standards in Public Office Commission.

For those who may be less familiar, the commission was established in 2001 and oversees the operation of legislation governing ethics in public office, political finance including donations, election expenses and the expenditure of Exchequer funding as well as the regulation of lobbying. The commission is supported by a secretariat, which I lead. I was hired in spring 2015 as head of lobbying regulation to oversee the implementation of the Act on behalf of the commission. The Act was signed into law in spring 2015. Most of the Act’s provisions, including the requirements to register and submit returns, as well as the Act’s post-employment provisions, commenced in September of that year. It has therefore been in operation for just over six years. The Act’s enforcement provisions, however, commenced in January 2017, and the code of conduct for persons carrying on lobbying activities, which was developed by the commission on foot of stakeholder and public consultation, came into effect two years later in January 2019.

During the past six years, the commission has undertaken extensive communications and outreach activities to raise awareness of the Act’s provisions and obligations. These include presentations to stakeholder groups, open house information sessions, print and radio advertising, the publication of articles in trade journals, the launch of a wide-ranging website, guidance tools and information notes, and promotion in mainstream and social media. During the past 18 months, outreach work has continued online and in virtual forums to continue to build knowledge and understanding of the Act.

I am pleased to say that on the whole, the Act is operating well, which is evidenced by compliance statistics. At the first reporting deadline after the Act commenced in January 2016, the register had roughly 1,000 registrants and 2,500 returns in the system. Today, we have more than double that number of registrants – more than 2,200 - and nearly 60,000 returns in the system. Registrants come from all across Ireland, and some from abroad, representing all sectors of the Irish economy. The returns on the register show that lobbying is a profoundly important mechanism by which individuals, businesses and interest groups seek to shape policy, programme, legislative and funding decisions.

While the Act is largely operating well, our experience in its administration since its commencement has identified several areas where we believe the Act may be strengthened, clarified and made more effective. The commission has made recommendations for amendments to the Act in all three legislative reviews conducted to date – in 2016, 2019 and the review just concluded this year. In its most recent legislative submission, the commission made 22 recommendations for change. I will not try the committee's patience by listing them all, but I note some are more technical in nature and are aimed at improving the Act’s clarity and efficient operation. Some, however, are more substantive and include recommendations to strengthen the Act’s post-employment provisions by broadening the scope of their application, and allowing for investigation and enforcement of non-compliance; to require public officials to close their doors to non-compliant lobbyists, and giving the commission the power to direct public officials to cease communications with non-compliant lobbyists; to broaden the Act’s application to cover informal coalitions of businesses lobbying on issues of mutual or sectoral interest; to capture lobbying by unpaid officeholders or directors of businesses, representative bodies or advocacy groups, currently not covered by the Act; and, finally, to introduce an anti-avoidance clause in the Act to make it an offence to take deliberate action aimed at avoiding the Act’s statutory obligations. The commission is of the view that the implementation of these recommendations would further enhance transparency around lobbying, slow down the revolving door and allow for more effective enforcement.

I thank the members for their attention and look forward to any questions they may have.