Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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41. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of the review of public ethics legislation, ongoing since 2021; if he will make public the findings of the consultation initiated by his Department; if he will provide details of the timeline that he is working towards for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55680/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am happy to inform the Deputy that my Department’s review of our statutory framework for ethics is at the point of being completed.

The Department has prepared a full draft of the Review Report and will now engage with major stakeholders within the public service to finalise the text. I will then consider the final report and bring it to Government for its approval and publication. It is intended that Government approval will also be sought to prepare a General Scheme of a Bill, to be drafted during Q1 2023.

As the Deputy’s question notes, the review process included a public consultation exercise which I launched last November. Eleven responses were received to this consultation from civil society organisations, political groups, political parties and members of the public. Some of the themes emerging from the responses that align with the Government’s main reason for reform, including:

- The urgency of reform in this area, support for the 2015 Public Sector Standards Bill approach and regret that that Bill did not complete the legislative process; 

- Calls for the reinforcement of the obligation of public officials, as well as the investigative and enforcement powers of the Standards in Public Office Commission, and its resources;

- Suggestions for generalised ‘cooling off’ periods, while acknowledging that a balance is to be achieved between personal freedom and obligations placed on public officials to safeguard the integrity of public life;

- Concerns flagged regarding increased administrative burden and the potential for a chilling effect on those considering entering the public sector, in particular the commercial State sector.

I foresee that all the responses to the public consultation will be published as part of the review report.