Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Mr. Davitt. That is quite interesting. I have to say I agree with much of what he has said. What the witnesses said and what SIPO said in 2016 on the issue of switching sides is important. The perception of a revolving door can serve to undermine public trust in the impartiality of public bodies. It is quite an interesting concept. The whole concept of a revolving door does undermine public confidence in public life. This is a very serious matter in itself as well as with regard to any other issue there might be. There is an issue with access, and the perception of access, in this State. In my clinics I see how people from different backgrounds and different walks of life are treated differently. It is definitely something I am very interested in. Mr. Devitt spoke about broader ethics. I am reading a book by Elaine Byrne on corruption in the past. It is quite interesting. It makes me think about how important legislation such as this really is and how essential it is that we make sure it works as effectively as possible.

My next question is on the cooling-off period. The Bill I and my colleague Deputy Doherty put forward had a cooling-off period of two years. It is regrettable the cooling-off period in this Bill is not for two years. In Mr. Devitt's opening statement he mentioned this. When we had a discussion on my Bill, a number of people who came before the committee spoke about a minimum cooling-off period of two years. The witnesses deal with this all of the time and the committee deals with it from time to time. Will Mr. Devitt explain the importance of the cooling-off period? For people outside to understand the importance of this, why does he believe it should be two years? It is my view that a minimum two-year cooling-off period is very important to maintain transparency as well as standards in the lobbying process. I ask Mr. Davitt to comment on this.