No records kept of former TDs or Senators visiting Oireachtas as lobbyists

Former Fine Gael TD Michael D'Arcy who is now a lobbyist with the Irish Association of Investment Management. 

Former members of the Oireachtas do not have to sign in to the Leinster House complex, nor is any record kept of their visits. 

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance this week recommended that access be restricted for former members who become lobbyists.

Writing in its pre-legislative scrutiny report on the Regulation of Lobbying Bill, the committee suggested former members who are now lobbying "are treated the same as normal lobbyists and do not enjoy special privileges like permission to enter the Oireachtas without an invitation". 

Former members of the Houses of the Oireachtas have been granted the privilege of access to Leinster House since the foundation of the State, though a renewed protocol for it was published in May last year. 

They can apply for access cards from the superintendent of the site and have access to the public areas of Leinster House, the Oireachtas library’s reading room in Leinster House and retain access to the members’ restaurant and the members’ bar. Car parking is available on non-sitting days with advance notice.

The Irish Examiner asked the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for figures of how many former members access the Leinster House complex every year, but a spokesperson said that because members do not have to sign in, there are no records kept.

A spokesperson for the Standards in Public Office commission said that all contacts which are between designated lobbyists and public officials about public policy or law must be declared on the Lobbying Register. 

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"Former TDs and senators have the same obligations under the Lobbying Act as any other citizen. The location of the meeting and the fact that the individual might be a former TD or senator would be irrelevant. Any obligations under the Act would be determined by whether the meetings fall within scope of the Act as determined by the three-step test.

"So if a former TD or Senator meets a former colleague, who is a Designated Public Official (for example a current Minister or TD), and if they also meet the criteria defined under steps 1 and 2 then they may have an obligation to register and make returns including the lobbying activity."

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Public Expenditure, Mairead Farrell, has previously written to the Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaill to suggest the establishment of a register of those former members who now work as lobbyists and visit the facility.

The access of former members needs to be looked at in general. All lobbying needs to be recorded, even those quick chats when you're having a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, former ministers or Government special advisors breaching the one-year “cooling off period” before engaging in lobbying has been described as having a “disproportionate impact in undermining public trust”.

In a submission to the Oireachtas Finance Committee, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) admitted the negative impact such instances could have and said that appropriate enforcement and new notification requirements should ensure fewer breaches of the legislation in future.

Under Government plans, a failure to comply with the statutory 12-month cooling-off period for lobbying activity will for the first time be a punishable offence with a monetary penalty of up to €25,000 and a prohibition from lobbying activity for up to two years. DPER told the committee that it conducted analysis on the number of officials who have moved to lobbying positions or “apparent lobbying positions” between 2015 and 2020.