Published: 25 August 2026
By Brendan Madden, Managing Director, Spencer Recruitment
Public affairs is moving from stakeholder access towards organisational interpretation and advice.
Relationships still matter. Political knowledge still matters. The ability to secure the right conversation at the right time still matters.
But the strongest public affairs professionals now add value in a more demanding way. They help senior leaders understand what political, regulatory and reputational change means for the organisation, how material it is, what choices it creates and what should happen next.
Public affairs has often been understood, sometimes too narrowly, as the art of access.
Who do you know? Who can you call? Can you get the meeting?
Those questions have not disappeared. But they no longer capture the full value organisations need from the function.
We previously examined why moving from politics into public affairs requires more than a “little black book”. That is the candidate side of the change. The other side is what employers increasingly expect public affairs itself to do.
The profession is not moving from one set of contacts to another, but instead closer to the point where organisations interpret risk, weigh options and make decisions.
What is changing in public affairs?
Public affairs is becoming a more strategic advisory function because political and regulatory developments increasingly affect commercial plans, operations, reputation and organisational legitimacy.
The traditional work remains important.
Public affairs professionals still:
- monitor political and legislative developments;
- prepare consultation submissions and position papers;
- map and engage stakeholders;
- brief elected representatives, departments and regulators;
- support advocacy and coalition-building;
- advise on political timing;
- and help an organisation communicate its position credibly.
None of those activities has become obsolete, but they are increasingly the inputs to the role rather than the final measure of its value.
A policy-monitoring update tells the organisation what has happened…
→ Advice tells the organisation what it means.
A stakeholder map identifies the relevant people and institutions…
→ Advice explains who can materially shape the outcome, where influence is possible and in what order engagement should happen.
A meeting creates access…
→ Advice determines what the meeting is for, what evidence will be persuasive, what the organisation should ask for and what should happen afterwards.
In the searches I am seeing, the strongest candidates are, simply put, the advisers. They can read a political development, understand its commercial or organisational implications, assess the reputational risk and help leadership decide what to do next.
Why is public affairs moving closer to senior decision-making?
Public affairs is moving closer to senior leadership because external political and regulatory developments now influence decisions that were once treated as primarily commercial, operational or technical.
Ireland’s public-affairs environment is both active and increasingly formalised.
The Standards in Public Office Commission’s 2025 Regulation of Lobbying Annual Report recorded 2,872 registered lobbyists at the end of 2025 and more than 14,337 lobbying returns relating to activity during the year.
Those figures do not measure the quality of public affairs or prove that every organisation needs a larger function. They do, however, show the scale of structured engagement between organisations and public decision-makers.
At European level, the pace and breadth of regulatory activity also make political interpretation increasingly important.
In April 2026, the European Commission announced a programme for a simpler, clearer and better-enforced EU rulebook, covering 12 priority areas for 2026 and 2027. These include financial services, health and food safety, transport, energy, climate, environmental regulation, digital policy and housing and permitting.
Even a programme designed to simplify regulation can create significant questions for organisations:
- Which obligations may change?
- When will those changes take effect?
- What transition costs or opportunities could arise?
- Which parts of the organisation need to prepare?
- Where is there a legitimate case for engagement?
- How will customers, members, investors or other stakeholders interpret the change?
External uncertainty affecting business decisions
PwC Ireland’s 2026 CEO Survey found that 21% of Irish CEO respondents felt highly or extremely exposed to geopolitical conflict, up from 13% in the previous survey. It also found that 29% expected geopolitical uncertainty to cause them to make fewer major investments.
This is where public affairs moves beyond political reporting.
Trade policy, climate obligations, infrastructure, housing, healthcare reform, digital regulation, employment law, consumer protection and geopolitical change are not abstract policy subjects. Depending on the organisation, they can affect:
- investment decisions;
- pricing and costs;
- market entry;
- planning and permitting;
- hiring and workforce strategy;
- supply chains;
- product development;
- licence to operate;
- member confidence;
- public trust;
- and corporate reputation.
When those consequences are material, public affairs becomes part of organisational decision-making.
That does not mean every issue belongs at board level. It means the public affairs function must be able to identify which issues do.
What does public affairs advice actually look like?
Public affairs advice turns external developments into a prioritised view of implications, options and recommended action. The distinction is not between doing practical work and giving advice. Good advice depends on strong research, monitoring, relationships and execution.
The distinction is between activity that ends with an update and activity that improves a decision.
| Public-affairs activity | The additional advisory value |
|---|---|
| Monitoring policy and legislation | Explaining which developments are material, when they may affect the organisation and what preparation is required |
| Mapping stakeholders | Identifying who can shape the issue, understanding their likely interests and recommending the sequence of engagement |
| Preparing a leadership briefing | Presenting implications, uncertainty, options, trade-offs and a clear recommendation |
| Securing a stakeholder meeting | Defining the objective, evidence, ask, likely objections and necessary follow-through |
| Drafting a consultation response | Connecting technical evidence to the organisation’s wider policy position and strategic objectives |
| Reporting political risk | Distinguishing immediate risk from longer-term uncertainty and identifying what requires leadership attention |
| Supporting an advocacy campaign | Connecting activity to a defined policy, organisational or societal outcome |
A strong senior briefing should help answer five questions:
- What is changing? What has actually happened, and what remains uncertain?
- Why does it matter to us? Which objectives, operations, stakeholders or risks could be affected?
- How material is it? Is this a leadership issue, a functional issue or something that should simply be monitored?
- Who matters? Who owns the decision, who influences it and who will be affected by it?
- What choices do we have? Should the organisation engage, prepare, collaborate, challenge, communicate, wait or take no action?
Senior leaders rarely need a lengthy explanation of every stage in the legislative process.
They need a clear view of the decision in front of them.
The real premium is prioritisation
One of the most valuable things a public affairs adviser can do is tell an organisation what does not yet require action.
Political and regulatory environments produce an enormous volume of information:
- announcements;
- consultations;
- speeches;
- committee discussions;
- legislative proposals;
- policy papers;
- political commentary;
- regulatory signals;
- stakeholder campaigns;
- and media speculation.
Passing all of that information to senior leaders is not strategic advice. The value lies in distinguishing signal from noise.
A strong adviser asks:
- Could this materially affect revenue, operations, reputation, public trust or licence to operate?
- Is the development likely, possible or still highly speculative?
- When would any impact arise?
- Can the organisation credibly influence the outcome?
- Does a decision need to be made now?
- What happens if the organisation waits?
- Which internal assumptions need to be challenged?
Good advice is not measured by how frequently the issue is escalated. Sometimes the right recommendation is to engage immediately. Sometimes it is to prepare quietly. Sometimes it is to gather more evidence, work through a representative body or wait until the policy direction becomes clearer. And sometimes the right advice is that the issue is not material enough to consume leadership attention.
That discipline is part of trusted counsel.
Do relationships still matter in public affairs?
Relationships remain fundamental to effective public affairs, but they are an asset rather than a complete strategy. A credible professional needs to understand how institutions work, how decisions develop and how different stakeholders view the issue.
Established relationships can help someone:
- understand the context around a formal announcement;
- test whether an interpretation is realistic;
- identify the right point of engagement;
- understand stakeholder concerns;
- and communicate an organisational position effectively.
But access does not guarantee influence. No stakeholder is obliged to agree because they accepted a meeting or answered a call. The organisation still needs a credible case, appropriate evidence, realistic objectives and a position that accounts for public as well as private interests.
Relationships are most valuable when they are supported by substance and maintained through professional consistency.
The door may open because somebody knows who to call. The quality of the advice determines what the organisation does once it is open.
How does the advisory role differ by organisation?
The central advisory skill is consistent, but the questions public affairs must answer vary by organisational context.
| Organisation type | The public-affairs advisory challenge |
|---|---|
| Corporate | Connect policy and political change to investment, operations, commercial risk, market access and reputation |
| Membership or professional body | Interpret change for members, develop a legitimate collective position and advise leadership while reconciling different member interests |
| Charity or NGO | Connect evidence, affected communities, advocacy strategy and public narrative to a credible case for change |
| Regulated business | Coordinate policy, regulatory, legal, operational and reputational perspectives without confusing their respective responsibilities |
| Semi-state or public body | Navigate government relationships, governance, public scrutiny and institutional responsibility in a politically aware but non-partisan way |
| Public-affairs consultancy | Translate several client environments into focused recommendations while maintaining pace, commercial judgement and delivery quality |
The membership-organisation environment is particularly instructive. Members increasingly expect more than representation. They want interpretation: what is changing, how it could affect them and how the organisation intends to respond. The strongest representative bodies therefore need public-affairs leaders who can advise internally as well as influence externally. Our article on why membership organisations are becoming powerhouses in policy explores that changing mandate in more depth.
Where does public affairs sit alongside communications and regulatory affairs?
Public affairs does not replace legal, regulatory, communications or commercial expertise. Its strategic value often comes from connecting those perspectives.
- A policy development can raise several different questions at once.
- Legal may need to determine what the wording permits or requires.
- Regulatory affairs may need to manage formal compliance, approvals or technical engagement with a regulator.
- Commercial and operational teams need to understand the practical consequences.
- Communications must consider how the issue affects employees, customers, media and public trust.
- Public affairs examines the wider political, policy and stakeholder environment around the issue.
These disciplines should work together, but they should not be treated as interchangeable. The difference between regulatory affairs and public affairs explains the distinction in more detail. In short, regulatory affairs primarily manages formal compliance and technical regulatory processes. Public affairs focuses on the wider environment in which policy is formed, challenged, communicated and implemented. The public affairs adviser’s role is often to bring the relevant perspectives together and help leadership see the full consequence of a decision.
What makes a public affairs professional a trusted adviser?
Trusted public affairs advisers combine political understanding with organisational judgement.
Five behaviours are particularly important.
1. They know what deserves attention
They can distinguish a material development from a politically interesting but organisationally marginal one.
They protect senior leaders from information overload without concealing relevant risk.
2. They translate rather than merely report
They explain the operational, commercial, stakeholder and reputational implications of external change.
They do not assume that leadership will make those connections unaided.
3. They present choices clearly
They identify realistic options, explain the trade-offs and make a recommendation.
They do not hide uncertainty, but they do not use uncertainty as an excuse to avoid giving advice.
4. They can challenge internally
Public affairs is not only about persuading external stakeholders.
An organisation may be pursuing an unrealistic objective, relying on weak evidence or underestimating public and political concerns.
A trusted adviser must be able to say so.
5. They protect long-term credibility
They understand that one short-term policy win is rarely worth damaging the organisation’s reputation with government, regulators, members or other stakeholders.
They know when to engage, when to hold back and when the organisation needs to change its position rather than its message.
The strongest professionals are not always the people with the most confident answer. They are the people who can explain what is known, what is uncertain, what matters and what decision can responsibly be made now.
What should organisations expect from a strategic public affairs function?
Organisations should expect public affairs to improve the quality and timing of decisions, not simply increase the volume of political activity. That requires more than asking the team to monitor developments or secure meetings.
Leadership should expect public affairs to:
- identify material external change early;
- provide clear escalation thresholds;
- connect policy developments to organisational priorities;
- frame options and recommendations;
- coordinate relevant internal functions;
- challenge weak assumptions;
- prepare leaders for external engagement and scrutiny;
- maintain credible long-term stakeholder relationships;
- and explain whether activity is contributing to meaningful progress.
The function also needs the access and information required to perform that role. A public affairs professional cannot give strong enterprise advice if they only learn about commercial decisions after they have been made. They need appropriate access to leadership, subject-matter experts and internal planning. They also need permission to challenge rather than simply validate a predetermined position.
The exact operating model will differ by organisation. Some need permanent in-house leadership. Others need specialist agency, consultancy or interim support. Many benefit from a combination of internal ownership and external capacity.
Organisations deciding how to resource the function? Read Public Affairs Hiring in Ireland: Build, Buy or Hybrid? for a detailed comparison of those models, first-hire seniority and role ownership.
From access to advice
Public affairs will always be a relationship-led profession. It will always require an understanding of politics, policy and institutions. It will always depend on credibility with the people involved in making, implementing and responding to public decisions.
But the function’s value is increasingly determined inside the organisation as well as outside it. The best public affairs professionals do not simply tell leadership what the Government, regulator or stakeholder has said.
✓ They explain what it means.
✓ They identify what deserves attention.
✓ They help the organisation understand the interests around the issue, recognise its own risks and decide how to respond.
✓ They bring political knowledge into commercial, operational and reputational decision-making without reducing complex public questions to private advantage.
The old version of the role was often about access. The newer version is increasingly about advice.
Access may help public affairs enter the conversation, but advice earns it a place in the decision.
Frequently asked questions
What does public affairs mean today?
Public affairs helps an organisation understand, navigate and influence the political, policy and stakeholder environment affecting its objectives. Modern public affairs increasingly combines external engagement with internal interpretation and senior organisational advice.
Is public affairs just lobbying?
No. Lobbying can form part of public affairs, but the discipline is broader. It can include policy monitoring, research, stakeholder mapping, consultation responses, advocacy, coalition-building, political analysis, executive briefing and coordination across internal teams.
Why is public affairs becoming more strategic?
Policy, regulation, political risk and public expectations increasingly affect commercial decisions, operations, investment, market access, reputation and organisational legitimacy. Leaders therefore need help interpreting external developments and deciding how to respond.
What does a senior public affairs adviser do?
A senior adviser identifies material political and regulatory developments, explains their implications, maps stakeholders, frames options, recommends action and prepares leadership for engagement or scrutiny. Their value comes from judgement and prioritisation as well as relationships.
Does every organisation need a board-level public affairs leader?
No. The level of capability should be proportionate to the organisation’s exposure. Senior in-house leadership is most relevant where political, policy or stakeholder issues are continuous, material and closely connected to organisational strategy or reputation.
How is public affairs different from regulatory affairs?
Regulatory affairs usually manages formal compliance, approvals and technical regulatory processes. Public affairs focuses on the wider political, policy and stakeholder environment. The disciplines often collaborate, particularly in regulated sectors, but they solve different organisational problems.
Recruiting public affairs leadership or specialist talent?
Spencer Recruitment works with organisations hiring across public affairs, policy, government relations, advocacy, stakeholder engagement and corporate affairs. We support employers with role definition, market mapping, salary benchmarking, permanent and interim recruitment, confidential search and senior appointments.
Learn more about our public affairs recruitment expertise or speak to us about a current or planned appointment.
