Lobbying

Background

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (the Act) is designed to provide information to the public about:

• Who is lobbying

• On whose behalf lobbying is being carried out

• The issues involved in the lobbying

• The intended result of the lobbying

• Who is being lobbied.

Lobbying is an essential part of the democratic process. It enables or facilitates citizens and organisations to make their views on public policy and public services known to politicians and public servants. The Act does not aim to prevent or inhibit lobbying. It does aim to make the process more transparent.

SOLAS and the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015
From the 1st January 2025 under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (Designated Public Officials) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 424/2024) 62 additional public bodies including SOLAS are now classified as containing public service positions which are to be considered as Designated Public Officials (“DPO”) for the purposes of section 6(1)(f) of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (No. 5 of 2015).

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

• as a resource for lobbyists filing a return to the Register who may need to source a designated public official’s details

The Designated Public Officials (DPOs) within SOLAS (An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna) under this legislation are as follows:

Andrew Brownlee, Chief Executive Officer

Conor Dunne, Executive Director, SOLAS

Mary Liz Trant, Executive Director, SOLAS and Director, National Apprenticeship Office

Nessa White, Executive Director, SOLAS

Groups/Committees exempted under the Transparency Code

An important element of public policy formulation is that expertise, skills and knowledge from persons outside of the public service are available to Ministers and Public Bodies when required. This often takes the form of Working Groups which may consist of both public servants and non-public servants. In light of the nature and frequency of communications between public officials and non-public servants in such Working Groups it is possible that some of these communications could be captured by the definition of a lobbying activity.

Section 5(5)(n) of the Act provides that communications between members of Working Groups may be exempt communications (and not regarded as lobbying activities) provided they meet the definition of a “relevant body” provided for in section 5(6) of the Act.

The following SOLAS groups/committees are exempted:

SOLAS Board and Board Committees

National Apprenticeship Alliance

Community Education Framework Implementation Group.

Further information is available at www.lobbying.ie