Law Society of Ireland

Lobbying Organisation Law Society of Ireland

Date published 12 May, 2017

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Environment

Period 1 Jan, 2017 to 30 Apr, 2017

Specific Details Local Authorities Tax Clearance Procedures

Intended results A direction is being sought from the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to direct local authorities to desist from the practice of seeking tax clearance certificates from both vendor solicitor and client when the authority is purchasing property. This is not required by EU Directives or Irish Regulations.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Ken Murphy, Director General

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (1)

The Departmental Circular 43/2006 - 'Tax Clearance Procedures Public Sector Contracts' is being misapplied to the purchase by the local authorities of property. Directive 2014/24/EU at Article 10, and SI 384/2016 are both explicit in providing exemptions for tax clearance certificates in these circumstances. Requesting such clearance is an unreasonable request by local authorities, frustrating the ordinary administration of sales, gives rise to Data Protection issues and ultimately is an avoidable administrative burden.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Simon Coveney Minister (Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government)

Michael Noonan Minister (Department of Finance)