A RECORD NUMBER of former government ministers, advisers and other officials sought waivers from the one-year cooling-off period from lobbying in 2025 after they left public office. 

The Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) revealed that 21 former officials requested an exemption from the cooling-off period last year, up from six in 2024.

Under the law governing lobbying, departing ministers and other government officials cannot begin lobbying the government until one year after they leave their roles. 

Outgoing officials are able to apply to Sipo for an exemption. 

Sipo said in its annual lobbying regulation report that the 21 people who applied for the waiver included two former ministers, a minister of state, 17 ministerial advisers and one public servant. 

Sipo did not say how many of these former officials were granted exemptions. 

The cooling-off period is designed to prevent private entities from gaining an “unfair advantage from knowledge, connections and network” from former government officials, according to Sipo. 

In late 2024, Sipo pleaded with the government not to be in charge of proceedings where ex-ministers, special advisers or other public servants did not stick to rules around a cooling-off period.

In correspondence with the Department of Public Expenditure, Sipo said plans to leave enforcement up to them instead of the courts were “completely unworkable.”

They warned that there was a “high litigation risk” and that offences related to cooling-off periods would be better dealt with through the court system.

The Department of Public Expenditure rejected this approach however, saying that dealing with it as a criminal matter could have a “chilling effect.”

Records showed how SIPO told the government that plans for amended legislation on the regulation of lobbying were fraught with difficulty.

They said they were already struggling with a lack of resources and adding to their work would “heighten the risk of under-resourcing, and of error, in relation to [their] portfolio as a whole.”

SIPO also argued there was little reason to keep the process outside of the legal system as each case was likely to be appealed anyway. 

With reporting from Mairead Maguire