Standards in Public Office Commission publishes its 2021 Annual Report under the Regulation of Lobbying Act

Thursday 30 June 2022: Today the Standards in Public Office Commission published its annual report under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. The report covers the Commission’s activities in administering the Act for the 2021 reporting year, including enforcement activities undertaken during the year.

The total number of registrants on the register increased to 2,273, an almost a 9% increase on 2020. At the time of completing this report, 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, continuing the pattern which became apparent during 2020. The increase in returns submitted likely reflects lobbying due to the pandemic.

In 2021, the Commission carried over one investigation into possible unreported lobbying from 2020 into 2021 and two further investigations were launched during the year. Separately, the Commission decided to prosecute two cases and three prosecutions were carried over from 2020. Three of these cases were for failure to submit returns by the statutory deadline, and two for other non-returns under section 20(2) of the Act.

The Commission also reported that it received five applications to waive or reduce the Act's post-employment provisions in 2021, all from former special advisers. Statistics on applications received since the Act’s commencement are included in the report.

For more information and to read the Commission's full report on the Regulation of Lobbying in 2021, please visit the website www.lobbying.ie.

For further information please contact:

Press Officer
Standards in Public Office Commission
6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W773
(01) 639 5722

Email:             info@lobbying.ie
Website:         www.lobbying.ie
Twitter:           @LobbyingIE

Background:

On 1 September 2015, the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 commenced, and with it, the requirement for those who lobby designated public officials to register and report on their lobbying activities every four months. The enforcement provisions of the Act commenced subsequently, on 1 January 2017. Information submitted to the Register is available for public inspection at www.lobbying.ie. The website, which includes the online register, also has a suite of information tools designed to help lobbyists, designated public officials and the public to fully understand the Act and its obligations.

The Standards in Public Office Commission was created in 2001, and oversees legislation governing ethics in public office, electoral finance, expenditure of State funding, and the regulation of lobbying.