Ireland recently made some improvements to its regulatory policy system, particularly in the areas of consultation and ex post evaluation.
A Consultation Principles and Guidance document was issued in 2016, and the government is more broadly promoting open data, citizen participation and greater public governance and accountability via the Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan. Progress is also underway to consolidate various department consultation notices on a central government website by the end of 2018. Despite these recent improvements, Ireland’s consultation practices do not yet operate on a systematic basis across government departments.
Since June 2016, standing orders from Parliament state that the Minister responsible for implementing a law must provide an ex post assessment of its functioning within a year. A number of sectoral Departments have also started to carry out policy and mandate reviews, which are required at least every seven years according to the Policy Statement on Economic Regulation issued in 2013.
Ireland continues to conduct mandatory RIA for all primary laws and major subordinate regulations. In order to more effectively monitor and assess the quality of RIA implementation, Ireland should consider establishing a central oversight body.