323. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the status of the 2020 Programme for Government commitment to reform and consolidate the ethics in public office legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45262/24]

As the Deputy points out, we made a commitment in the 2020 Programme for Government to ‘reform and consolidate the Ethics in Public Office legislation’ and I am happy to inform the House that we have been able to make very significant progress on this agenda.

To prepare the ground for this, my Department carried out a comprehensive review of the current legislative framework for ethics in public office, the Report of which was published in February 2023. The Government subsequently agreed to the preparation of a General Scheme for legislative reform informed by the outcome of this Review. Since then, my Department has worked up detailed legislative proposals in consultation with other relevant Departments and the Standards in Public Office Commission. I have engaged regularly with officials during this process and arbitrated on significant policy aspects of these proposals. The Department continues to finalise certain technical aspects with a view to bringing a draft General Scheme to Government for its consideration in the near term.

As I have told the House before, our ultimate goal in this process is to create a fit-for-purpose, easy to understand and user-friendly ethical framework that contributes to the quality and efficacy of our public administration.