Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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310. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons seconded to his Department from and or that previously worked for companies (details supplied) in the past 10 years to date; and the measures in place in his Department that protect it from conflicts of interest and maintain good corporate governance arrangements in respect of his Department’s operations with financial companies that officials once worked for. [26323/21]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that, in the ten year period from 2011 to 2021, there have been 4 persons employed in my Department on secondment from KPMG and 1 person employed on secondment from Davy Stockbrokers. A record of the former employers of staff members is not kept by my Department.

All persons employed by my Department are subject to the Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour, which sets out a clear framework within which civil servants must work and the principles which should govern the behaviour of civil servants. Included under this is the requirement that civil servants may not at any time engage in, or be connected with, any outside business or activity that would in any way conflict with the interests of the Departments, be inconsistent with their official positions, or impair their ability to carry out their duties as civil servants.  

For this reason, any employee of my Department intending to be engaged in or connected with any outside business or employment is required to inform Human Resources of such an intention.

Employees of my Department are also bound by the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001, which provide provide for the disclosure of interests by civil servants, and the Official Secrets Act 1993, which safeguards against the unauthorised disclosure of information.