Regulator issued nearly 400 fines to lobbyists last year

The Standards in Public Office Commission can also issue summary fines of €200 for late returns, which can rise to €2,500 upon a summary of conviction. File picture

Just under 400 fines were given to lobbyists last year for failing to log their activities within the required timeframe while a further 114 notices threatened to prosecute if lobbying wasn’t declared.

The Standards in Public Office Commission noted a sharp increase in lobbying of public and Government officials in recent years due to the “impact of Covid-19-related lobbying”.

Groups or individuals that aim to influence public policy or change legislation are legally required to register who is lobbying, what they’re lobbying for, and to who they’re doing the lobbying.

Last year, the regulatory body decided to prosecute two cases and carried over three cases from 2020. Three of these were over failures to submit returns on time.

The Standards in Public Office Commission has the power to conduct investigations if it believes the law has been broken in relation to lobbying. It says it monitors unregistered lobbying using media articles, social media notifications and complaints it received.

Entering 2022, it still had two open investigations into potential breaches of the law. 

The regulator can also issue summary fines of €200 for late returns, which can rise to €2,500 upon a summary of conviction. A total of 399 fixed penalty notices were issued in 2021, of which 352 were paid over the year.

“More fixed penalty notices in respect of late returns were levied in 2021 than in 2020, which itself was up from 2019,” the commission said. 

“This trend may be due to Covid-19 as employees from many organisations continued to work from home without all the support of their office environment.” 

The commission issued 31 notices of potential prosecution, the majority of which resulted in the fine being paid.

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Under more serious offences, such as intentionally providing false information or failing to cooperate with an investigation, it can lead to an unlimited fine and/or two years in prison if convicted.

In 2021, 114 notices were issued informing the lobbyist they would face prosecution if they didn’t submit a return. The commission said that “most people” comply with their obligations when it reaches out.

“The Commission takes a less lenient approach with lobbyists who lobby without registering, repeatedly miss return periods and/or fail to comply or engage with the Commission. In such cases, the Commission will proceed to prosecution,” it said.

Separately under the law, ministers, special advisors and senior public officials must have a “cooling off” period of one year after they leave office during which they can’t engage in lobbying or work for a group carrying on lobbying activities.

It also said that five former special advisors in Government roles applied for a waiving of this cooling-off period. There have been 21 such applications since the Lobbying Act was enacted in 2015.