Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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252. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if NAMA is subject to the Lobbying Act 2015; if it is required to submit a return if it lobbies a person; if it is required to submit a return if it lobbies a company or organisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32712/16]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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254. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of returns made by NAMA under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 since the legislation was enacted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32722/16]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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255. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of returns made in respect of NAMA under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 since the legislation was enacted; the detail of the returns, in tabular form, broken down by years, individuals and organisations by name [32723/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Under section 7 (f) of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is defined as a public service body for the purposes of the Act.

In accordance with section 5 (5) (k) of the Act, communications made by a person who is employed by or holds any office or another position in a public service body are exempt, where the person is acting in that capacity within the body and the communications relate to the functions of the public service body. This provision also applies to persons engaged for the purposes of the body.  This means these communications are not regarded as lobbying activities under the Act.

NAMA is not therefore required to register or submit returns to the lobbying register under the Act.

In accordance with the information publicly available on the lobbying register, there have been no returns made in respect of NAMA since the Act commenced on 1 September 2015.

The website at  www.lobbying.ie, which includes the easily searchable and free to use online register, also has a suite of information tools designed to help lobbyists, designated public officials and the public to fully understand the Act and its obligations.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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253. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of former or current public officials employed by or providing services to a lobbyist for each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date who are listed on a website (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32721/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Standards in Public Office Commission, an independent body, is responsible for the implementation of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 and under section 9 of the Act for the establishment and maintenance of the online Register of Lobbying.  As such, my Department does not have day to day responsibility for the collection, presentation or content of the information on the Register of Lobbying. In order to assist the Deputy, my officials contacted that Office and were advised that the Standards in Public Office Commission has a data export facility on the Register of Lobbying that allows anyone to extract and analyse data from the Register. The Deputy might wish to contact the Standards in Public Office Commission directly for assistance in undertaking that analysis.