Eamon Ryan: Taoiseach and Tánaiste share my 'concerns' over D'Arcy appointment
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan: "I was concerned, I'll be honest because there is an issue I think if someone is regulating an industry, and in a very short timeframe switches." Picture: Tom Honan/PA Wire
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has suggested that former Minister Michael D'Arcy should reconsider his appointment to an investment fund lobby group.
Mr D’Arcy, who was a Minister of State in the Department of Finance in the last Government, has resigned his Seanad seat to join Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM).
Mr Ryan said he has "concerns and difficulties" around the appointment and spoke to Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar yesterday evening on the matter.
"They probably share some of those concerns," the Transport Minister said.
"I was concerned, I'll be honest because there is an issue I think if someone is regulating an industry, and in a very short timeframe switches.
"I think there is an important need for gaps and timelines and distance between people who are acting as Ministers and then acting for the industry."
Asked directly if Mr D'Arcy should now reconsider taking up the position, Mr Ryan said: "Yes, I do have concerns."
Mr Ryan said his partners in Government also have reservations about Mr D'Arcy's move.
"I expressed my concerns. I don't think the Taoiseach or Tánaiste had different views," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
However, following the announcement yesterday, Mr Varadkar said he would be sorry to lose him from the Fine Gael parliamentary party but can "understand why he has made his decision" and wished him well in his new role.
“I would have loved to have seen Michael return to the Dáil as a TD and a Minister after the next election but understand that after 20 years in public life he wants to start a new chapter of his life. He will always be welcome should he decide to run for election again.
Mr Varadkar added: "His new employers are fortunate to recruit someone of his calibre."
“This decision will create a vacancy in the Seanad on the agricultural panel. The party has initiated the process of selecting our candidate to contest the by-election that will now arise.”
Mr Ryan said the appointment is now a matter for the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).
Under SIPO rules Ministers and Ministers of State are banned from lobbying or being employed by a group that engages in lobbying for a period of 12 months.
Exemptions to this rule can be given, however, Mr D'Arcy has not requested such an exemption.
Both Sinn Féin and Labour have sought clarity from Mr Varadkar and the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) on the appointment.
Under SIPO rules, ministers and ministers of state are banned from lobbying or being employed by a group that engages in lobbying for a period of 12 months.
Exemptions to this rule can be given — however, Mr D'Arcy has not requested such an exemption. Last Wednesday, Mr D'Arcy, who has resigned his Seanad seat, spoke in favour of the Investment Limited Partnership Bill.
“From my experience, investors are significantly ahead of everyone else,” he told the House.
“They are the people with private equity funds and who administer the monies that will be crucial if we are serious about sustainable finance.”
Mr D'Arcy, who was a minister for state in the Department of Finance in the last Government, also said the financial services sector, which employs around 16,000 people, "has been arguing, for about four-and-a-half to five years, that without this legislation, it cannot advance the private equity side of investment in Ireland".
During the second reading of the bill, Mr Darcy said the current law was out of sync with other European countries in terms of the limits on partnership investment for funds.
Questioning the legality of the appointment, Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty claimed the IAIM lobbied Mr D’Arcy in the past regarding tax breaks worth millions of euros for multinational executives while he was a junior minister.
In a statement, IAIM said Mr D’Arcy is "fully aware" of SIPO’s guidelines as set out with regards to the responsibilities of former officer holders.
Among those tipped to fill the Seanad seat now vacated by Mr D’Arcy are former senator Ian Marshall and former Carlow-Kilkenny TD Pat Deering.
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