Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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216. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of submissions received as part of the consultation process on the legislative review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015; if he will provide a list of the persons and bodies that made submissions; and the reason these submissions are not yet published on his Department's website. [21076/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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217. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the report on the review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015; and the reason the report was not brought to the Houses of the Oireachtas in March 2017 as required by legislation. [21077/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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218. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans for changes in legislation following the review of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. [21078/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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219. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to honour the committment given by his predecessor (details supplied) to extend the category of officials that are designated public officials under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 to include civil servants at principal officer level. [21079/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 216 to 219, inclusive, together.

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 commenced on 1 September 2015.  The Act is designed to provide appropriate transparency on “who is lobbying whom about what” and is viewed internationally as an exemplar to others. There are currently 1,600 organisations and individuals who have registered on the lobbying register, and just over 11,000 returns have been submitted and are available for viewing on lobbying.ie. It is clear that the work undertaken by my Department and the Standards Commission in leading awareness and understanding of the Act has been effective and I am confident that this momentum will be maintained as the work continues.

Section 2 of the Act required that the first review of the operation of the Act be commenced by 1 September 2016, that a consultation process be undertaken in the context of that review and that the report of the review be submitted to both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Act also requires further reviews to be carried out every three years.

I am pleased to advise that there was a good outcome from the public consultation process with some 31 submissions received from different sectors of society including academia, representatives of business and other interest groups, Government Departments and public affairs organisations. The submissions are broadly supportive of the legislation and consider that it provides an instrument for the public to gain insights into the decisions and actions of public servants and the communications that lead to these outcomes. The submissions are available on my Departments website and can be viewed on .

As regards the report of the review, it sets out the purpose of the Act, the approach taken in the review, the international perspective, the findings in terms of an overview of the issues raised in the submissions and our responses, and recommends a number of administrative actions to be taken.  This report has been sent to the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, the Cathaoirleach of the Seanád and the Chairman of the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on 2 May 2017 and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.  It is available to view at .

Extension of the categories of officials comprehended by the Act was considered by my officials in the context of the review.  In this regard, consideration was given to a number of factors including:

- it was a matter raised by a number of stakeholders but stakeholders disagreed on who should be included with some seeking that the list of Designated Public Officials (DPOs) should include senior officials in influential public bodies, and some seeking that the Principal level be included on a case by case basis only.  The majority of submissions however considered that inclusion of the Principal in the civil service or any other categories of public officials as DPOs would place a great burden on lobbyists in terms of reporting relevant communications.

- The categories of DPOs comprehended by the Act already covers the major categories of positions who are the decision makers in respect of both the civil service and the local authorities.

- The Act itself is in force for a relatively short period and the enforcement provisions only commenced in January this year.

Taking the above into account, I consider that the Act needs further time to bed down before any extension of the cohort of DPOs takes place.  This will provide the opportunity for further evidence of the groups of persons to be considered for inclusion as DPOs to be gathered and the matter can be considered in the 2019 review of the Act or before that if I deem it necessary. 

I am not recommending that any amendments be made to the Act at this stage for a number of reasons.  I believe that it would be prudent to allow further time for the system to establish itself, and for additional evidence regarding how the operation of the Act is proceeding to be gathered and assessed.  In addition, Ireland is in a small leading group of countries with effective lobbying regulation.  Introducing the prospect of potential legislative change at this early stage clearly has the potential to give rise to significant uncertainty regarding the future shape of the legislation which runs the risk of adversely affecting the operation of the lobbying regime. 

Furthermore I am advised that the majority of issues raised have either already been dealt with by the Standards Commission through its work and use of the website or, in my view, can be handled administratively without any requirement for legislative change. I have set out a number of administrative actions to be taken such as development of further guidance, FAQs etc.  My strong view is that legislative change is not something that should be embarked upon unless there is a compelling business case for change, such as in circumstances where the legislation is not functioning effectively in a significant way, in terms of the policy objectives for the legislation. This is clearly not the situation we find ourselves in with this Act as reflected in the positive results to date and in international commentary.