Social Democrat TD Roisin Shortall has claimed that there is ‘not a hope in hell’ of updated ethics in public office legislation being brought before the Dáil prior to the next general election.
The Dublin North-West TD clashed with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe on the matter after she asked him to provide an update on reform of the ethics in public office legislation, given that the review of the current statutory framework was completed in December 2022 and published in February of 2023.
Minister Donohoe noted that the review made recommendations in a number of different areas, including on the use of insider information and that disclosure requirements should be strengthened to improve transparency and whether it should include more office holders.
The recommendations also called for a strengthening of SIPO (The Standards in Public Office) along with a review of post-term employment restrictions contemplated for elected officials and public servants.
Efforts to bring forward legislation to tackle these issues were at “an advanced stage” the minister said.
Responding to the minister, Deputy Shortall said “there have been incredible delays in all of this.” “It is 20 years now since SIPO started identifying the serious gaps in its powers. It is supposed to be a watchdog but it seems to be more of a lapdog at this stage because of the failure of successive Governments to give it the powers it so desperately needs.”
The TD also claimed that politicians need to show the public “that we are serious about ethics.”
The Social Democrats were the subject of a six-month investigation by The Sunday Times.
In an article published at the weekend claims were made that the Party subjected members to ‘controlling behaviour’ and that “The Social Democrats, who campaign for transparency in politics and public life, confirmed the use of NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) for branch officials — a practice that is unusual as nearly all other political parties said they did not use such legal documents for branch or executive officials.”
The Sunday Times also reported on claims that the party monitored social media accounts of its members. The claims were rejected by the Party.