Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Tá céad fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis as ucht a cheapacháin. Is maith an rud é go bhfuil Gaillimheach sa ról atá aige. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment as it is the first time I have had the opportunity to do so on the floor of the Seanad. I wish him well and it is great to see another west of Ireland man close enough to the Cabinet table, at least, and having some influence on policy making.

This question arises from recent investigations I have been doing around people who are employed by State agencies etc. There are a number of State agencies and anecdotal evidence suggests that people, for example, who worked in county councils - the Minister of State was in Galway County Council for a while - move on when finished their tenure. In some cases, they work for companies working as contractors for the councils etc. Two former employees of Údarás na Gaeltachta who were involved in policy development with regard to seaweed cutting and aquaculture went on to work with a company in that area which they would have previously dealt with from a policy perspective.

I am not insinuating any impropriety in what any of the individuals are undertaking at present. Ministers, Deputies, Senators and civil servants are required to adhere to standards in public office, and there is a code on standards of behaviour that we are expected to adhere to. However, there is no similar code of service under the standards in public office legislation for public servants. The website has a heading for public servants but it states that the Department of Finance has yet to prepare codes of conduct for directors or employees in State bodies and the wider public service.

I looked at the Civil Service code of standards and behaviour, as one would imagine the code for civil servants should be quite similar to that for public servants. In many cases civil and public servants are comparable with regard to pay scales, working conditions and contractual obligations etc. The Civil Service code is not out of the ordinary and it is quite normal in the run of things. I appreciate many State agencies have their own codes of conduct etc. The guidelines for the Civil Service were drawn up in 2004, which is 12 years ago. I take it that in that time, nothing appears to have been done around the code of conduct and standards of behaviour for the public service. It is quite unusual and strange that this would not have been done or brought up to date at this stage.

For example, the code for the Civil Service covers quite a number of headlines. It outlines the standards required of civil servants and underpinning service delivery in respect of impartiality and so on. It deals with behaviour at work and the standards of integrity, conflicts of interest, gifts, hospitality etc. It is very similar to what we are asked to do as public representatives, which is correct. There is an interesting section towards the end dealing with the acceptance of outside appointments and consultancy engagement following resignation or retirement. There is something in that code of conduct that considers cases in which people working for the State in a policy capacity had dealings with certain organisations or companies and what would be expected of a civil servant after such employment.Why is there such a delay in drawing this up for the public service? For example, No. 20.2 of the code states:

Any civil servant intending to be engaged in or connected with (i) any outside business with which he or she had official dealings or (ii) any outside business that might gain an unfair advantage over its competitors by employing him or her, must inform the appropriate authority of such an intention.

That is very practical and fair. I hope the Government is looking at bringing in something similar for public servants.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank the Senator for his kind words. I am delighted to be here to take this matter on behalf of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The current position regarding codes of conduct is that section 10 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 provides for the introduction of codes of conduct to be observed by the persons to whom they relate and provide guidance in the performance of their official duties. The standards commission is responsible for the publication and distribution of such codes of conduct but the codes themselves are drawn up by a number of parties under the Act. The codes of conduct for Members of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann were drawn up by the appropriate Committees on Members' Interests. The code of conduct for officeholders was drawn up by the Government. The Civil Service code of standards and behaviour was drawn up by the then Minister for Finance in 2004 following consultation with the Standards in Public Office Commission and staff representatives. This code was revised in 2008 and is now the responsibility of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The code of conduct for local government was drawn up by the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government under the Local Government Act 2001 following consultation with the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Codes of conduct for directors and employees in the wider public service have not yet been prepared, notwithstanding the fact that the 2001 Act provides that such codes "shall be drawn up from time to time". The Senator is right. This is now the responsibility of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. That is not to say that codes do not exist within the wider public sector. For example, many public bodies in the education sector and the health sector have codes of conduct and I understand that the code of ethics for An Garda Síochána is currently being prepared. In addition, directors and other senior public officials in the public sector are subject to obligations under the ethics Acts and, of course, public bodies are all subject to the code of practice for the governance of State bodies, which was recently published. That code provides a framework for the application of best practice in corporate governance. It is strongly based on the underlying principles of good governance, namely, accountability, transparency, probity and a focus on the sustainable success and performance of the State body concerned in light of the particular public functions it undertakes. Good governance supports a culture of behaviour with integrity and ethical values.

As the Senator is aware, a significant programme of legislative reform was undertaken by the previous Government to strengthen openness, transparency, governance and accountability of the institutions of the State. The Minister is committed to continuing that work. One of those reforms is the development of the Public Sector Standards Bill. The Minister is pleased to advise the Senator and the House that a key reform proposed within that Bill is the establishment in legislation of a set of integrity principles for all public officials and the subsequent development by the new public sector standards commissioner of a model code of conduct applicable to all public officials based on these integrity principles. The Bill includes general principles on standards of integrity and concern for the public interest. Public officials will need to adhere to the principles of accountability and transparency in government and public affairs and use resources efficiently and effectively.

The Bill also provides that the new commissioner will issue a model code of conduct based on these general principles with which public officials must comply in the performance of their duties. The Bill provides that public bodies may adopt their own codes to meet particular requirements while adhering to the principles and standards in the model code. The commissioner may advise as to whether amendments to any such code are required. In the Minister's view, this approach, where all codes must conform with the model code developed by the commissioner, will lead to the adoption of best practice and the removal of any inconsistencies and differences in standards and approaches taken. The Public Sector Standards Bill was published in December 2015 and completed Second Stage in the Dáil in January. A very constructive debate has led to a number of Committee Stage amendments, the preparation of which is currently under way. It is the Minister's intention to enact this legislation as soon as possible. In conclusion, while there is currently no specific code of conduct for the wider public service, the officials in question are subject to the ethics Acts and the code of practice for the governance of State bodies and many codes are already in existence in this sector. These officials will be subject to the model code, once in place, following enactment of the Bill.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the fact that a Bill is being brought forward but I worry about the time lapse. The basic question is why it has taken so long. I mentioned 12 years but if the legislation was enacted in 2011, it is even longer. Perhaps the Minister of State could ask the Minister the reason the Standards in Public Office Commission cannot update the code and put what would be a model code in place sooner rather than later so that all these disparate codes can be brought under one regulation under the commission's guidelines. I think that would be very beneficial and important and could be based on the Civil Service code that is already there.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I take the Senator's comments on board and will communicate them to the Minister. I am also concerned about the delay but I assure the Senator and the House that the Minister will do everything to bring this legislation forward as soon as possible.