Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy makes reference to the 2020 programme for Government. That did indeed lay out the commitment to reform and consolidate the ethics in public office legislation and, as she will be aware, my Department carried out a comprehensive review of the statutory framework as a first step in meeting this commitment. The review’s report was submitted to Government in December 2022 and published in February 2023, and the Government agreed to the preparation of draft legislation to reform the regime informed by the review’s outcomes.

It made recommendations in five different areas, namely the legislative framework for our ethics principles; new statutory prohibitions, including on the use of insider information; that disclosure requirements should be strengthened to improve transparency and looking at whether it should include more office holders; a strengthening of SIPO; and that any post-term employment restrictions contemplated for elected officials and public servants should seek to address matters not already covered by the regulation of lobbying.

My Department is preparing a draft scheme for legislative reform in consultation with relevant Ministers. While the drafting of the heads of the Bill is significantly advanced, the Deputy will be aware of some of the challenges that we had in respect of the Public Sector Standards Bill 2015 when it was presented to the Oireachtas. All that being said, we are nearly done in respect of the drafting of the heads of the Bill and I hope to be in a position to bring that to Government shortly.

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