LONG OVERDUE REFORM of Ireland’s ethics legislation must not be further delayed, according to Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall.
The latest politician to find themselves in hot water is Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, who had to apologise over the weekend for failing to declare a donation of services to the ethics watchdog during the 2016 General Election campaign.
This follows on from Robert Troy’s resignation as a junior minister last year, and more recently, Fine Gael’s Damien English stepping down last week.
Due to his Department’s oversight of Standards in Public Office (Sipo), Donohoe has since recused himself from some of his duties as Public Expenditure Minister relating to the ethics watchdog.
With the complaint process now underway, there have been new calls for Donohoe to further explain himself, with Sinn Féin calling for a “comprehensive statement” while Labour seek a Dáil statement.
No further delays
Shortall said today that it would be “bizarre and grotesque” for reform to be further delayed because the minister overseeing the Sipo was the subject of an investigation.
The recusal should not slow down much-needed reform of our ethics legislation, she said.
Until the Cabinet reshuffle, Michael McGrath had been responsible for reform of our ethics legislation, with Shortall stating that it now makes sense for that responsibility to now revert to the Finance Minister.
In August 2022, The Journal asked in an article following the Troy controversy whether we would see more political controversies before Sipo gets some teeth?
The answer is clearly yes.
Only a few months since Troy’s long, drawn out departure as junior minister, English has had to step down and now a senior minister is under scrutiny.
For a number of years now, Sipo has said it wants more ‘teeth’ to hold politicians to account.
It’s ironic that the only people that can Sipo them that power through legislation, are politicians – with that issue now to the forefront with Donohoe’s recusal.
What do Sipo want?
In their 2021 annual report, the Sipo decided to list a number of recommendations it has made in terms of more stringent laws that would hold those working in public office and civil service accountable.
You can almost hear the exasperation in the report:
“As in previous years, the Standards Commission has included in its annual report a number of recommendations for legislative change to the Electoral Act 1997 and to the Ethics in Public Office Acts, that remain outstanding at the time of publication.”
To hammer home its messages, Sipo’s annual report lists a number of the recommendations it has made to date.
In the column titled ‘progress in 2021′, the answer ‘none’ is listed several times.
These include the call from Sipo to be able to can appoint someone to look into a matter of concern even if no complaint has been made.
There has also been no progress to date on legislation “to ensure accountability of all former public officials, including those not currently covered by the Ethics Acts”.
No progress either on a comprehensive act consolidating the Ethics Acts and all other legislation providing for disclosure of interests and related provisions for public officials.
In 2017, Sipo also said, “explicit provision should be made to allow complaints against members of the Oireachtas in circumstances where the matter has come to light after the member has left office”. This has also been an issue far in advance of the Troy and English controversies.
When questioned about Sipo’s powers last week, McGrath said he believed “very many” of the recommendations made by Sipo in their annual reports would be adopted into legislation.
So when can we expect this much heralded legislation?
McGrath said the legislation would be brought forward by the Government over the course of this year.
He said Ireland needs to “up-date and modernise” ethics legislation, as to not do so will only further damage public trust and confidence in politicians and politics, which he acknowledged is not good for the country.
Calls for report publication
Shortall has called for a review of ethics legislation which was carried out to be published this week.
A timeline for when the updated ethics legislation is likely to be published should also be published, she said.
Labour’s Ged Nash said this government has had a “laissez-faire approach to ethics rules”, adding that for seven years Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have failed to progress the Public Sector Standards Bill first put forward by Brendan Howlin in 2015.
“The multiple failures to declare registrable interests, the revolving door between politics and business lobbyists, and the multitude of concerns highlighted by SIPO over many years over the inadequacy of Ireland’s ethics laws clearly demonstrates the urgent need for reform of ethics legislation. Confidence in politics and trust in our democracy is at stake,” said the Louth TD.
He reiterated Shortall’s call for the report on the review of ethics legislation to be published.
“We still do not have sight of this. No draft law has been published yet despite Sipo repeatedly asking for more powers and multiple scandals in recent years,” he added.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say