Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Cathaoirleach mentioned the departure of Michael D'Arcy from this House. I am sure we all wish him well. For the purposes of the business of the House, however, a lacuna in the ethics in public office legislation has surfaced whereby the cooling-off period provided for in section 22 of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 is unenforceable by SIPO and there is no penalty for its breach. I reviewed the Seanad debate of 2015 on this legislation. I had tabled some amendments on Committee and Report Stages but I am afraid to say none of us spotted this lacuna, and it was presumably not spotted in the Dáil either, so the fault is not in the stars but in ourselves. As to why the lacuna is there, we might point to poor drafting or perhaps in part a rush through the legislative process, but the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, gave more time than most to the consideration of the legislation. There are other lacunae in the legislation, such as SIPO's inability to investigate former Members, as we saw in the case of the former Minister of State, Dara Murphy.In its annual report last July, SIPO asked if parties operating north and south of the Border were using different funding rules to their advantage, in a clear reference to Sinn Féin. The High Court case taken by Amnesty International left us with the clear reality that foreign lobby groups can campaign for changes to our law and Constitution. I have criticised Mr. George Soros's Open Society Foundation's attempt to effectively buy influence in Irish political affairs by funnelling money to lobbying organisations. All of these matters need to be addressed. We should contrast that with the stringent limits on politicians and parties as to how they may receive funding. I have not seen the documentary "The Swamp" but it is about the influence of big money on politics in the USA. We are not there yet but we have a problem with the funnelling of money to lobby groups, which is unregulated. The Government has said it supports a review; we need reforming legislation in this area.