Speech by Mr Brendan Howlin T.D. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Public Affairs Ireland Conference on Regulation of Lobbying 25 June 2015  

I am very pleased to join you here this morning for this discussion on the regulation of lobbying activity in Ireland.

I’d like to place this consideration of lobbying regulation in the wider context of “trust in Government”. In 2011, I had the great privilege of being appointed by the Taoiseach to be a member of the current Government. With that privilege comes some responsibility for the guardianship of the institutions of the State. This is not a responsibility I take lightly. After 30 years in public life I know very well the effort required to sustain a healthy and vibrant democracy.

The reputation of many of our institutions – political, public administration, banking and regulatory – have been damaged since 2008. I remain concerned at the erosion in levels of trust among citizens in the institutions of the State. As we approach the centenary of the foundation of the State, I am mindful of ensuring that our parliamentary, government and public administration systems need to be robust and fit for purpose.

We are working hard to earn back the confidence of the people by demonstrating that those of us who work on behalf of the State, at whatever level, have the ideal of public service at the heart of everything we do. An exemplary example of that principle in action is the work of the staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs over the last 10 days combining professionalism with empathy and support in the most difficult and heart-breaking of circumstances.

Over the past 4 years the Government has worked hard to regain the confidence of citizens after the damaging impact of the economic and banking crisis.

As we enter into the fifth year of our term in Government, it’s appropriate to ask what the legacy of this Government is in protecting and strengthening the democratic infrastructure of the State.

The elements which support citizen trust in Government are somewhat of a mosaic. Many of the elements are legislative, administrative and technical in nature which fail to capture the media attention or the public imagination. However, that dearth of attention belies their importance.

I’d like to spend a little time this morning focusing on recent developments in this area to help create that overall picture of how the system of Government and public administration has fundamentally changed since 2011.

Part of the challenge is that the reform agenda is broad, multi-layered and overlapping making it difficult to reduce to sound bites. I find it useful to look at it across a number of different strands. This morning I am going to focus on measures to

  • Build Capacity
  • Clarify Accountability
  • Strengthen Transparency, and
  • Give a greater voice to stakeholders and citizens.

Building Capacity

The first challenge is to build capacity in the public system at every level, in effect, strengthening from within. The public service has many strengths and has been a corner-stone of our recovery – doing more with fewer resources in a climate of reduced pay. We need to continue to support the public service so that across the board it is high performing and responsive to the needs of society.

As part of the civil service renewal plan, a Civil Service Management Board was instituted for the first time to provide leadership for the Civil Service. While this may not seem a significant development from an outside perspective, it represents a major shift in focus for the civil service with Secretaries General having a structured forum to work together on system wide issues. Their role is to provide oversight of implementation of agreed policy priorities across Departments and to enhance the capacity and capability of organisations. The Board is leading the implementation of the number of priority actions under the renewal plan.

As part of their new role they are, for example, in the process of establishing the first ever performance review process for Secretaries General.

To further underpin the new governance arrangements, a common corporate governance standard for the Civil Service is being developed. A public consultation process is currently underway on a draft Standard which I hope to have finalised by the autumn.

The civil service renewal plan also contains a suite of measures aimed at maximising the performance of each Civil Service employee and organisation.

Organisational capacity reviews will be introduced in each Government Department on a systematic basis to deliver ongoing assessment of that Department’s capacity, strengths and weaknesses. So that we meet the challenges of the future we also need to attract talented people through greater resource to open recruitment. We then need to retain them by supporting them to fulfil their potential and operate at the highest levels of performance. By meeting these objectives we will have the right leaders and managers with the right skills and competencies to encourage and develop excellence. The renewal plan rightly places a renewed focus on learning and development to facilitate the development of new skills and behaviours and continuous professional development.

The disciplinary code is being strengthened to enable managers to take more effective and decisive action as required to tackle under-performance. Managers will receive training and support from Human Resource and legal experts to assist them to manage performance effectively and consistently for all performance levels, including tackling under-performance.

We are also seeking to strengthen capacity at the State Agency level. In September 2014, Government agreed to introduce a new system for State Board Appointments.

The revised approach has the following three key principles at its core:

  • The promotion of wider access to opportunities on State boards for all citizens;
  • The establishment and publication of detailed and comprehensive criteria for these roles; and
  • The introduction of transparent and rigorous assessment of candidates under these criteria to be conducted by the independent Public Appointments Service.

According to PAS, since the new guidelines were put in place, 2,200 expressions of interest have been received for 129 vacancies on 36 State Boards

Clarifying Accountability

In my view, one of the most critical elements of our reform agenda is strengthening Civil Service accountability.

Following the preparation of a paper by my Department setting out the main issues, I appointed an independent panel chaired by Professor Kevin Rafter to oversee a the public consultation process, examine the submissions received, and following its assessment, make recommendations for my consideration.

In accepting the key recommendations of the Independent Panel, Government has decided to establish an Accountability Board for the Civil Service. This Accountability Board, which I expect will have its inaugural meeting before the summer break, will be chaired by the Taoiseach includes strong external membership to review and constructively challenge the performance of senior management and oversee delivery of their priorities.

Accountability is further being enhanced by requiring each Department to publish a Framework of Assignments which will show “who does what” and to whom they report down to the level of Principal Officer. This process already takes place in many areas of the civil service in accordance with the Public Service Management Act 1997 but will now operate consistently and transparently across the entire Civil Service. I expect that this information will be available on one central website by the end of quarter 3 this year.

One of the first pieces of legislation on Government reform enacted after I become Minister in 2011 was the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act 2012. It represents the most substantial extension in both the powers of the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman’s remit in over three decades significantly enhancing the accountability of public bodies to citizens.

Earlier this week, I signed an Order together with my colleague Minister Varadkar to include within the remit of the Ombudsman private nursing homes whose residents are in receipt of state support or subvention. This will mean greater accountability and assurance for the 22,000 nursing home residents that receive State support, and for their families. It also provides support to those nursing homes by clarifying the complaints regime. It will strengthen the standing of residents and their families in having complaints addressed as well as helping to improve the quality of decision-making and accountability. These are the hallmarks of quality services delivered with public funding.

To date, this Government has also led reforms that underscore its conviction of the potential of the Oireachtas and its members to lead change, to govern effectively and to hold Government to account. This includes the enactment of the Oireachtas Inquiries legislation under which the current Banking Inquiry is operating. The 2013 Act provides a comprehensive statutory framework for the Oireachtas to conduct parliamentary inquiries into matters of significant public importance. This is an important step in clarifying the role of the Houses of the Oireachtas in securing accountability.

Such inquiries could represent a very substantial strengthening in the effectiveness and contribution of the legislature to our democratic system – this would be achieved by not only helping us to learn vital lessons from past events but also identifying reforms and changes essential to making sure that errors of the past are not repeated.

A lesser known aspect of the 2013 Act is the expansion in the scope of evidence that civil servants can give to Oireachtas committees. For the first time, this will ensure that Oireachtas Committees are assisted as much as possible in ascertaining a full narrative of events. This could extend, in relevant circumstances, to giving evidence on what policy advice was given or policy options discussed with a Minister. The provision is subject to the caveat that civil servants should not comment on the merits of any government policy or the merits of any objective of government policy. This strikes the right balance between enhancing the ability of the Oireachtas to hold the executive to account, while also maintaining the long-standing principle of civil service impartiality and neutrality.

The role of the Oireachtas in terms of the legislative process has also been enhanced.

Oireachtas committees now engage in pre-legislative scrutiny which gives the Houses the opportunity to influence legislative measures at an earlier stage and contribute to improving the policy framework of draft legislation through its public analysis and feedback on Heads of Bills.

Strengthening Transparency

Closely allied to the concept of accountability is of course transparency.

This brings me to the prime reason we are gathered here this morning. Both Justice Dan O’Keeffe and Sherry Perrault have spoken about various aspects of lobbying regulation. I am a strong advocate of lobbying activity. I believe that lobbying is absolutely necessary in order to maintain a healthy and well-functioning democracy. We, the Government and the public service, cannot operate in a vacuum. We need to hear the perspectives of all sectors in order to make sound well informed decisions which best serve the needs of society as a whole.

The extent of lobbying activity is a good measure of an engaged citizenry but it should be open to public scrutiny as part of the desirable checks and balances in a democracy.

Transparency is our strongest weapon in discouraging attempts to seek to exert undue or improper influence on the conduct of policy formulation. There is a strong public interest in identifying “who is lobbying whom about what”. My intention in designing and guiding this legislation to enactment was specifically to achieve this goal. The web based registration system that was launched recently will bring that aspiration to reality.

I was keen to continue to harness the experience and practical insights of stakeholders as we progress from the development of the legal framework to implementation. I established an Advisory Group of stakeholders, chaired by the Standards Commission, which will remain in place at least until the review of the operation of the Act after 1 year I will be reiterating to the senior public service and to my political colleagues that we should continue to be open to lobbying approaches from the widest range of interests in society. In fact, I am hopeful that the existence of the register will help support more balanced stakeholder engagement by shining a light on who is talking to whom.

I’d also like to touch briefly on the most citizen focused of our transparency measures – the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014. That Act reverses the restrictions to FOI introduced in 2003, extends FOI to most public bodies and introduces a number of important reforms, including a completely new FOI fees regime.

Following an extensive FOI review process in 2013, a comprehensive Code of Practice was published in late 2014 in tandem with the enactment of the Act. This was followed by the development of new FOI guidelines and manuals and the introduction of the new FOI fees regime by Ministerial Order.

Giving a Voice

According to the OECD, one of the most important elements in building trust in Government is giving opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to participate in policy formulation. The Constitutional Convention was truly an innovative measure in that regard bringing together a forum of 100 people which was representative of Irish society.

At a broader level, and helping to bring together the impact of these various reforms, Ireland has become a member of the Open Government Partnership which aims to open up government actions to peoples across the globe. Ireland’s Action Plan under this Partnership contains 26 commitments spanning three core areas: Promoting Open Data and Transparency; Building Citizen Participation; and Strengthening Governance and Accountability to rebuild public trust in Government.

Conscious of the citizen participation actions in the Open Government Partnership my Department will host a Consultative Event on the Open Government Partnership in July. The event will seek to establish how best to raise awareness and succeed in broadening participation of citizens and civil society, as well as to inform the final approach to a model for reviewing the National Action Plan.

My Department is also currently working on developing revised consultation principles for engagement with citizens, civil society and others. I expect to bring these consultation principles to Government shortly and initiate a public consultation process where input will be sought from a wide range of stakeholders and members of the public.   I am confident that these principles will help to improve the transparency, responsiveness and accessibility for stakeholders when engaging in consultation on Government policy development.

Earlier this week, I officially launched another important initiative that will promote open and transparent public governance. Benefacts is a partnership initiative between Government and philanthropy, which will support the highest levels of public trust and confidence in the not-for-profit sector.

Benefacts will develop a free and publicly available website that will provide readily accessible, high value, financial and governance data, on the estimated 12,000 non-profit entities in Ireland, which receive more than €4.4 billion annually in government funding. It will assist the State in designing and delivering better services that support the delivery of the best possible outcomes for citizens. It also supports my commitment to delivering public sector reform and our work in the Open Government Partnership

Conclusion

From time to time I am a little disheartened to see the media saying that nothing has happened in the area of public service reform. While the individual measures may not be headline grabbing, these reforms, taken together, have the power to transform the way we deliver public services through:-

  • Building Capacity
  • Clarifying Accountability
  • Strengthening Transparency, and
  • Giving a greater voice to stakeholders and citizens.

Building trust in Government is not easy and cannot be delivered overnight nor can it be achieved by Government or politicians alone.

But I am hopeful as I reflect on the engaged and active participation of our young people in the recent Referendum campaign that we have a strong and vibrant democracy fit for purpose as we face into the next century of our State. Ends