Designated Public Officials

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 came into force on 1 September 2015.

The Act provides that the Standards in Public Office Commission will establish and maintain an online Register of lobbying activity - www.lobbying.ie.

The purpose of the register is to make information available to the public on the identity of those communicating with designated public officials on specific policy, legislative matters or prospective decisions. Lobbyists must report on their interactions with the Designated Public Officials.

Section 6(4) of the Act requires each public body to publish a list of designated public officials of the body.

The purpose of the list is twofold:

• to allow members of the public identify those persons who are designated public officials
• a resource for lobbyists filing a return to the register who may not need to source a designated public official’s details

The Designated Public Officials of the Department of Defence under this legislation are:

• Micheál Martin TD, Tánaiste - Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Jennifer Carroll MacNeill - Minister for European Affairs & Defence
• Gráinne Weld - Adviser to Minister
• Stephen Foley - Adviser to Minister
• Sharon McGowan - Adviser to Minister
• Jacqui McCrum - Secretary General
• Aileen Nolan - Assistant Secretary for Corporate Affairs
• Bernie Maguire - Assistant Secretary, Defence & Security Policy
• Eamonn Murtagh - Assistant Secretary for Strategic Change & Capability Development
• Jason Kearney –Director of Emergency, Operations & Infrastructure Oversight
• Clare Tiernan - Assistant Secretary, Defence Capability People Policy
• Stephen Hall - Acting Assistant Secretary, IRG Implementation Division

The purpose of the Transparency Code is to ensure that Designated Public Officials understand how the system works and how they can support the effective implementation of the legislation.

While Designated Public Officials are not the focus of the rules regarding the registration and reporting of lobbying, any relevant communication with a Designated Public Official must be reported by the lobbyists in accordance with the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015.

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 does not seek to capture and register interactions within groups, such as task forces and working groups as lobbying communications, where appropriate transparency arrangements are in place. The Transparency Code outlines the groups to which these arrangements apply, and the transparency arrangements themselves.

The Transparency Code is available at www.lobbying.ie.