Sherry Perreault

Dublin firm Bissett Industrial Limited was fined €1,250 by Judge Anthony Halpin on Wednesday at the District Court for failing to make submissions to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) on time.

Under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, those who lobby elected and public officials are required to disclose who they are lobbying and the issues they are raising in regular returns made to the watchdog.

Individuals may be fined up to €2,500 in the District Court.

Bisset was registered to a lobby in January 2017, with records showing that the company made representations to six Dublin city councillors in the first four months of the same year to have land retained at a site in Ringsend, Dublin 4, in the Poolbeg West strategic development zone.

The company did not engage with the regulator after €200 fixed penalty notices were issued for its failure to send returns for 2018 by the deadlines.

Larry Joyce, the “responsible person” for the firm’s lobbying activity admitted he had failed to file returns on time, citing personal issues and a busy office.

“I am dyslexic. We are very busy in the office, overstretched, and for many reasons the returns weren’t done,” he told The Irish Times.

Sipo disclosed the conviction at the launch of its Regulation of Lobbying in 2018 annual report.

The commission last year issued 522 fines of €200 each. Of these, 437 were paid – a yield of €87,400 to the State. Fifteen went unpaid and 70 were cancelled for valid reasons.

Breaches of “post-employment” rules for former elected and public officials are not covered by the law and the commission lacks powers to prosecute them or impose sanctions.

Sherry Perreault, head of ethics and lobbying regulations at the watchdog, called for additional powers to deal with post-employment breaches.

She said: “The problem is that when there is a breach, we have almost nothing that we can do about it and we are precluded from commenting publicly in any kind of detail.”

She added: “That is frustrating but more than being frustrating it is allowing a loophole where there is no consequence for a person who actually breaches the obligations.”