Chapter 4: Operations since Commencement

Table of Contents

• Determinations under section 14
• Determinations under sections 19-22
• Internal procedures and appeal processes
• Engaging with others

Section 25(2) of the Act requires that the following information be included in this report, in a form which does not enable the identification of persons involved:

• Any determinations under section 14 made or in force that year [delayed publication requests];
• Any investigations under section 19 concluded in that year;
• Any applications for consent under section 22 [post-employment restrictions] and all decisions on such applications, made in that year;
• Any convictions for offences under section 20 in that year; and
• Any fixed payment notices served under section 21 in that year.

The following information related to the 2015 calendar year. It does not include information for the 21 January 2016 returns.

Determinations under section 14

Under section 14 of the Act, a registrant may apply to delay publication of the details in the person’s registration or in their return of lobbying activities if making the information could reasonably be expected to:

• have a serious adverse effect on the financial interests of the State, the national economy or business interests generally or the business interests of any description of persons, or
• cause a material financial loss to the person to whom the information relates or prejudice seriously the competitive position of that person in the conduct of the person’s occupation, profession or business or the outcome of any contractual or other negotiations being conducted by that person.

In 2015, there were 7 applications to delay publication of registration details. Of these:

• Five had registered in error due to a misunderstanding of the Act’s requirements. These persons were not lobbying for the purposes of the Act, and subsequently requested to have their registrations removed from the system. As the registrations themselves had been submitted in error, no determination under s. 14 was required. The registration details were removed from the register.
• One had misunderstood the application of the delayed publication provisions, and had submitted the request in error. As the applications had been submitted in error, no determination under s. 14 was required. The registration details were subsequently published.
• One actual application to delay publication of registration details was received and was rejected. The registration details were subsequently published.

In 2015, there were no applications to delay publication of details submitted in a registrant’s return.

There has therefore been one determination made under this section in 2015.

Determinations under sections 19-22

Section 19 of the Act provides the Commission with the authority to conduct investigations into possible contraventions of the Act. Section 20 describes offences under the Act, and section 21 provides for fixed payment notices for specific contraventions.

As the investigation and enforcement provisions of the Act, including sections 19, 20 and 21, are not yet in force, the Commission has nothing to report in relation to those sections.

Section 22 of the Act provides for post-employment restrictions for specific categories of designated public officials. A designated public official may apply to the Commission for consent to waive or reduce these restrictions.

No applications for consent under section 22 have been received from either current or former designated public officials seeking to waive or reduce the post-employment restrictions to which they may be subject.

Internal procedures and appeal processes

The Commission has put in place a range of internal procedures and protocols to support decision-making in accordance with its statutory responsibilities under the Act, and to provide guidance to staff in fulfilling their responsibilities in a fair, consistent and efficient manner.

Section 23 of the Act provides for appeals of specific decisions of the Commission, namely decisions relating to the removal of information contained on the register (section 10(5)), applications for delayed publication (section 14), and applications to waive or reduce the post-employment cooling-off restrictions applicable to certain classes of designated public official (section 22).

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has established panels of independent appeal officers who will be able to hear appeals in Irish or English.

Under the Act, the independent appeal officer may uphold a decision of the Commission, or overturn it and replace it with another decision. Decisions of the appeal officer may in turn be appealed on a point of law to the High Court.

Engaging with others

With a view to exchanging experiences and learning from best practice in other jurisdictions, the Commission has engaged with several international practitioners and organisations, as well as academics both in Ireland and abroad:

• In November, Sherry Perreault spoke at a workshop on the regulation of lobbying hosted by the University of Stirling, Scotland. Targeted at Scottish parliamentarians, policy-makers and academics as Scotland was considering draft lobbying legislation, the workshop brought together lobbying registrars from Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. The registrars spoke of their experience in establishing and managing a register of lobbying activities. Other speakers at the event included a subject-matter expert from the OECD, and academics from Scotland and the United States.
• The Commission Secretariat also responded to several queries from France, the European Union, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In November, the Commission secretariat met with a visiting delegate from the French office of La Haute autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique [the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life].
• The Commission Secretariat has joined the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL), a U.S.-based international body for ethics practitioners, including lobbying regulators. COGEL provides a forum in which members may share information, exchange best practices and undertake professional development via an annual conference.