Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when he will deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to amend the rules to ensure that no senior public servant, including political appointees or Minister can work in the private sector in any area involving a potential conflict of interest with their former area of public employment, until at least two years have elapsed after they have left the public service; if it is now his intention to limit this commitment to the General Scheme of a Regulation of Lobbying Bill provisions; and if so, the reason. [6694/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I refer the Deputy to my previous response on this issue in PQs No: 3710/13 and No: 3711/13 answered on Tuesday, 29th January, 2013 .

Significant progress has been made in developing my proposals for the regulation of lobbying. The consultation process undertaken on this commitment was based on the OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in lobbying which recommend that it may be necessary to impose a ‘cooling-off’ period that temporarily restricts former public officials from lobbying their past organisations. My proposals in this area - which draw on the Outside Appointments Board model applying to senior civil servants - will be published following consideration by Government as part of the General Scheme of a Regulation of Lobbying Bill.

The relevant OECD principles also highlight the requirement for countries to consider establishing restrictions for public officials leaving office to address other potential conflict of interest situations that could arise. It is planned that these other elements of the Programme for Government commitment which also arise from the recommendations contained in the final report of the Mahon Tribunal will be addressed through the proposed reform of the legislative framework for ethics which is currently underway.