Green Party leader Eamon Ryan says he has concerns over a former minister of State ’s move in to the private sector.
Mr D’Arcy, the former Fine Gael TD for Wexford is taking up a position with financial services lobby group the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM).
Policy towards the funds sector would be overseen by the Department of Finance, where Mr D’Arcy was the minister of State until earlier this year.
Mr Ryan said he felt his Coalition partners shared his concern about Michael D’Arcy’s appointment.
The move has sparked controversy, with Opposition figures saying it undermined rules on a “cooling-off period”, which requires a year-long gap between certain politicians and senior officials leaving office and taking up a position in a related private-sector field.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland the Minster for Climate Action said: “I expressed my concern to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and I think they share my concern.”
Mr Ryan said the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) will examine the appointment but he felt there needed to be a gap in timelines between being a minister and taking on a new role. “There are laws and regulations, it is up to Sipo to oversee them.”
Aasked if the Taoiseach Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael shared his concern about the appointment, Mr Ryan said: “Yes I think our partners in Government are also concerned.”
The cooling-off period, which was brought in in 2015, applies to lobbying activity undertaken by the individual concerned, or by the organisation for whom they are going to work. It can be varied by Sipo, but only after it is notified of the intended move by the party concerned.
Mr D’Arcy did not contact Sipo prior to making his move.
A spokeswoman for the IAIM said it had obtained legal advice that the appointment was not in breach of the lobbying act, and said that neither the organisation nor Mr D’Arcy will be engaging in lobbying activities for a year.
Guidance on the Sipo website says it is the responsibility of a former designated public official, such as Mr D’Arcy, to seek consent from Sipo “prior to taking up an offer of employment”.
Publicly available returns show that Mr D’Arcy was lobbied directly by the IAIM in 2017, while he was working as minister of state for financial services.
The organisation had a meeting with him and an adviser about several issues, including a controversial tax break scheme for well-remunerated executives, the Special Assignee Relief Programme.
Even if no lobbying is taking place, if the person considers there is a possibility that their obligations under the act might be triggered, they should make contact with the commission before accepting the offer of employment.
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