The Minister for the Environment is to take measures to control the activities of lobbyists representing commercial and political interests. Carl O'Brien reports.
Officials have confirmed that legislation is being considered which would complete an ethics framework that already covers the activities of TDs, senators and civil servants.
The measures to control the profession follow mounting concern over the role of lobbyists in politics, particularly in the light of revelations emerging at tribunals.
While details have yet to be drafted, the legislation is expected to be broadly similar to measures introduced in Brussels in recent years. In the European Parliament, lobbyists must be registered, state the interests they represent, and abide by a detailed code of conduct.
This includes obligations to refrain from any action designed to obtain information dishonestly; refrain from claiming any formal relationship with the European Parliament when dealing with third parties, and from circulating for profit documents obtained from the parliament.
Meanwhile, in another move aimed at restoring confidence in public life following recent political scandals, the Minister, Mr Cullen, will shortly publish statutory codes of conduct for staff and members of local authorities.
These will reinforce existing measures under the Local Government Act (2001) which obliges local authority members and staff to make an annual declaration of interests. Under this legislation councillors and local authority officials who accept money for planning favours may face fines of up to €130,000 and three years in prison.
There have also been moves to regulate the movement of senior civil servants by banning them from taking lucrative private sector posts, which create potential conflicts of interest, for up to a year.
Breaches of a new code, which has yet to be implemented, will result in disciplinary action and will be admissible in proceedings before a court, tribunal or the Standards in Public Office Commission, say officials.
Once the code is in force, the rules will be monitored by an outside appointments board, which will be dominated by non-civil servants.
The numbers of influential civil servants leaving the public sector in the latter stages of their career has increased substantially in recent years.
One official familiar with the new measures said it was likely that senior civil servants who go into the private sector will have to continue signing a declaration of interests, monitored by the Standards in Public Office Commission, for a defined period.
Officials in the Department of Finance, which has drawn up the new measures for civil servants, say their legal advice is that the State cannot impose an employment ban on senior civil servants for more than a year.
The State could impose the year-long ban by getting a High Court injunction.