Skip to main content

Lobbyists

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government commissioned research by a Trinity College / Dublin City University joint team to establish a clear profile of formal systems for regulating lobbyists in public life in certain jurisdictions, thereby facilitating an assessment of their relevance to public life in Ireland. The joint research team's Report, entitled "Examining and Assessing the Regulation of Lobbyists in Canada, the USA, the EU institutions, and Germany" was completed in August 2006 and is available in the Publications Documents box on the right.

The Trinity College / Dublin City University report builds on an earlier report by the Institute of Public Administration entitled “Regulation of Lobbyists in Developed Countries Current Rules and Practices”, commissioned by the Department and finalised in Summer 2004, and is available in the Publications Documents box on the right.

Research on the regulation of lobbyists was undertaken in the context of the overall Government Regulatory Framework for Public Life  which has seen a a number of measures introduced to ensure a high level of openness, transparency and accountability for all those elected or appointed to public office.See below for further details of the measures taken to date.

The Government will consider legislation to regulate lobbyists having regard to the conclusions of the Trinity College / Dublin City University report and emerging developments at EU and OECD level in relation to principles for lobbyist regulation.

Summary of Government and public sector measures to date on the Regulatory Framework for Public Life and Lobbyists

Major legislative and regulatory steps have been taken in recent years in favour of the establishment and maintenance of public confidence in the standards by which Ireland is governed, including:

  • the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999, as amended in 2001 which provides for an expenditure and donation disclosure regime at local elections and an annual donation disclosure regime for councillors;
  • the Electoral Act 1997, as amended most recently in 2004 which provides for an expenditure and donation disclosure regime at Dáil, European and Presidential elections; a donation disclosure regime at Seanad elections; and an annual donation disclosure regime for Oireachtas members and members of the European Parliament;
  • the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 which established the new Standards in Public Office Commission with wide investigative powers and amended the Ethics In Public Office Act 1995;
  • the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2001 which strengthened the law on corruption and provides for a presumption of corruption in certain cases;
  • the Local Government Act 2001 and associated regulations which modernised local government law and provided an updated ethics infrastructure and requirement for annual declaration and disclosure of interests for the local government sector;
  • the amendments made in the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005 to give additional powers to bolster the operation of the Criminal Assets Bureau in the fight against all forms of crime, including white collar crime and corruption; and,
  • Section 10 of the Code of Conduct for Local Authority Employees, concerning the employment of senior local authority officials following their retirement or resignation, has been amended to help prevent possible conflicts of interest.

The Ethics in Public Office Bill 2007 will, when enacted, provide for new measures in relation to acceptance of benefits by an office holder or a member of the Dáil or Seanad, subject to advice of Standards in Public Office Commission and will update monetary thresholds for registrable interests in the 1995 Act, i.e interests that are disclosable in annual statements of registrable interest under the Ethics Acts.

Steps have been taken by both Houses of the Oireachtas in the adoption of Codes of Conduct for their Members, in addition to the separate Code of Conduct for Office Holders drawn up by Government under the Standards in Public Office Act 2001.

A wide ranging ethical regime currently operates for the civil and public service under the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995, as amended in 2001, and for the local government service as provided for in the Local Government Act 2001 and the updated Code of Governance for State Bodies published in 2001; the work of the Standards in Public Office Commission as the permanent statutory body with an ongoing mandate to monitor, investigate and regulate the conduct of those elected to serve the Irish people and those employed in the public service; and the June 2004 statute backed Codes of Conduct for local government Councillors and  Employees, as well as the November 2004 Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour.

A report entitled "Examining and Assessing the Regulation of Lobbyists in Canada, the USA, the EU institutions, and Germany", commissioned in April 2005, has been completed by a joint Trinity / DCU research team. The report, which is currently being considered, builds on an earlier study by the IPA entitled “Regulation of Lobbyists in Developed Countries Current Rules and Practices”, commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which was placed in the Oireachtas library in the Summer of 2004.