FIVE FORMER SPECIAL advisers to ministers last year applied to waive or reduce a requirement to wait one year before engaging in lobbying activities, a new report from the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has said.
The commission was set up in 2001. It oversees legislation governing ethics in public office, electoral finances, spending of State funding, and the regulation of lobbying.
Under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, certain ‘designated public officials’ (including special advisers to ministers and ministers of state) are subject to a one year “cooling-off” period after they leave their roles.
The commission said that during this time, they “cannot engage in lobbying activities in specific circumstances or be employed by, or provide services to, a person carrying on lobbying activities in specific circumstances, except with the consent of the Commission”.
Case studies
Sipo’s annual report for 2021 on the regulation of lobbying outlined three case studies illustrating the kinds of circumstances and factors taken into account by the Commission in determining such cases.
In one case, where the former special advisor was refused the waiver, the Commission said it took into account that the applicant was seeking to commence employment with body on the lobbying register who had recently and directly lobbied the advisor and the department he had worked in.
The Commission also noted that there was no competitive process and this person “seemed to have been headhunted”.
It was determined that the body on the lobbying register, whom the special advisor was to be employed “would almost certainly benefit from the applicant’s connections and knowledge gained during the applicant’s time as a designated public official”.
“The Commission considered that this was exactly the type of situation that the provisions of section 22 of the Act are intended to regulate. Having regard to the applicant’s previous and proposed roles, the Commission did not consider that the objectives of section 22 of the Act, or the public interest, would be served by waiving the cooling-off period as requested, and refused the application,” the report noted.
The decision was appealed but was upheld.
Under the 2015 Act, lobbyists must provide details every four months of the politicians and State officials they have engaged with and on what issues.
The Act is intended to provide greater transparency on how organisations try to influence policy-making decisions and when they provide lawmakers with information about their business activities.
Lobby register
The report finds that the total number of registrants on the lobbying register increased to 2,273, an almost a 9% increase on 2020.
More than 11,600 returns of lobbying activities had been submitted in respect of the three reporting periods in 2021.
The number of returns remained high, states the report, adding that the increase in returns submitted likely reflects lobbying due to the pandemic. Health matter was the top subject matter recorded on the lobbying register, finds the report.
The report also welcomed the publication in February 2022 of the general scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill.
It seeks to strengthen the regulation of lobbying activity by former Ministers, senior civil servants and special advisers and would see a failure to comply with the statutory 12-month cooling-off period for lobbying activity be a punishable offence for the first time.
The Commission said it would work with the minister and the department to ensure that the lobbying regime is as “robust and effective as possible”.
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