84. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he will provide an update on reform of the ethics in public office legislation, given that the review of the statutory framework was completed in December 2022; the reason for the delay in publishing the heads of a Bill; if he expects this Bill to be introduced this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28132/25]

Sentiment score: -0.10

An update on the ethics in public office legislation was promised in the programme for Government in 2020. It never happened. The Minister's Department concluded its review in December 2022. We were promised heads of a Bill but have never seen them. It is now two and a half years later. When will those heads of Bill be published?

Sentiment score: 0.09

I thank the Minister for his reply but we are going backwards here. The review was concluded by his Department well over two years ago. We should have seen a heads of Bill at this stage. His predecessor, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who I know the Minister works closely with, told this House a year ago that "we are nearly done in respect of the drafting of the heads of the Bill and I hope to be in a position to bring that to Government shortly.". A year ago, the Minister's predecessor was saying this work was almost finished and was almost ready to go to Government. The Minister is now saying two years after the review done by his Department and five years after the promise in the previous programme for Government that this would be done, he has more work to do and more consideration to give. There are issues here that have been going on since 2018. Every single year in its annual report, SIPO highlights it does have the powers that it needs to do its job effectively. Year after year passes without this getting addressed. To give one example, in 2023 it identified 42 public bodies that are outside of its remit because the regulations have not been updated since 2018. This is long overdue. Can the Minister give us a commitment that he will do this urgently?

Sentiment score: 0.22

I thank the Minister. However, I do not understand how his predecessor, the current Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who is perfectly competent and able, was in a position to tell the Dáil a year ago that the heads of Bill was almost ready to be published and he was hoping to bring it to Government very shortly. How was it possible for Deputy Donohoe to do that a year ago only for the Minister to now come into the House to say there is a whole load of other work that needs to be done? The review by his Department was concluded more than two years ago. Some of these issues have been going on for years. We have 42 public bodies that are not covered by the ethics legislation because the regulations have not been updated in years. How can the Minister stand over that? How can he stand over 42 public bodies not covered by the ethics legislation? Deputy Chambers is the Minister with responsibility for this. Will he not deal with this urgently and how is it that he is way behind where his colleague, Deputy Donohoe, was a year ago?

Sentiment score: 0.12