By Brendan Madden, Managing Director, Spencer Recruitment
We often talk about Regulatory Affairs and Public Affairs as if they’re interchangeable. They’re
not. They’re cousins, not twins. They live next door, borrow each other’s tools when needed,
and show up to the same meetings on big days but they do different jobs, move to different
clocks, and answer to different judges.
Regulatory Affairs keeps you legal. It’s the craft of submissions, approvals, inspections, and
variations; the discipline of documents that stand up to line-by-line scrutiny. In the Irish context,
think HPRA, the Central Bank of Ireland, the DPC, the EPA, the CRU, ComReg statutory bodies
whose calendars don’t care about your launch date or media cycle. Success here is right first
time: clean findings, timely approvals, traceable decisions. It’s quiet work until the moment it
isn’t, and then you need credibility that can’t be faked.
Public Affairs keeps you legitimate. It’s the judgement to map the room—Departments, special
advisers, civil servants, Oireachtas committees, semi states, sector bodies—and to make a fair
case at the right time in the right tone. It’s also the instinct to know when the story needs two
paragraphs for an official and a 30 second line for broadcast. You’re not there to spin; you’re
there to explain why the policy matters, how the guidance lands in the real world, what the
trade offs look like for people who aren’t paid to care about your internal constraints. If
Regulatory Affairs is the dossier, Public Affairs is the brief that carries it into the world.
The confusion usually starts with tempo. Regulatory Affairs is a timetable—inspection windows,
renewal dates, dossier milestones. Public Affairs is a weather system—pre leg work, heads of
bill, committee stages, consultations, and the occasional squall when a topic turns hot. One asks
“are we inspection ready?” The other asks “who needs to hear this and when will they actually
listen?” Mix the tempos and you end up late in both worlds.
Another source of muddle is audience. Regulators need precision: what you did, how you
verified it, where the evidence lives. Policymakers need clarity: what changes, who benefits,
what risks you’ve mitigated, what compromise you’re prepared to wear. Both audiences dislike
theatrics. Both punish vague answers. But they are not the same room, and they do not respond
to the same kind of confidence.
This is where the cousins analogy helps. Good cousins coordinate, they don’t compete. In
practice that means Regulatory Affairs owns the facts the dossier, the trail, the language that
would make sense to an inspector reading it cold. Public Affairs owns the choreography—the
sequence of conversations, the tone of the brief, the dignity of admitting what you still don’t
know. On a data issue with public interest, for example, RA sets out the controls and the
evidence; PA ensures the Departments and committee clerks aren’t surprised by headlines and
have a line they can live with. On a product variation with health implications, RA manages the
formal pathway with HPRA; PA keeps stakeholders sighted on what the change means for access
and timelines. Different roles, one outcome: accuracy with trust.
If there’s a single habit that separates high functioning teams from the rest, it’s early escalation.
The best RA leaders say “not yet” when the evidence isn’t ready. The best PA leaders say “hold
the line” when the timing is wrong. Both know that a tidy sentence today can become an untidy
inquiry tomorrow. That takes culture as much as talent: the freedom to say no, the discipline to
write things down, and the humility to accept that scrutiny is part of the work, not an
interruption to it.
Why does any of this matter for hiring? Because clarity saves time. When you describe the job
properly—legal vs. legitimate, dossier vs. brief, timetable vs. weather you suddenly recognise
the skills you actually need. In Regulatory Affairs, you hire for technical fluency, document
rigour, and calm credibility with inspectors. In Public Affairs, you hire for policy literacy, concise
writing, and real relationships that aren’t just a list of names. In both, you hire for judgement:
the grown up in the room who knows when to pause, when to push, and when to pick up the
phone.
The Irish system adds its own texture. It’s a small ecosystem; people remember how you
behave. FOI exists; emails can become daylight. The Lobbying Register is not optional. The best
practitioners carry themselves accordingly—measured in tone, careful in record keeping,
respectful in disagreement. That professionalism is not theatre; it’s strategy. It keeps doors open
when you most need them.
So, cousins, not twins. Keep Regulatory Affairs and Public Affairs close enough to share
intelligence and far enough apart to keep their edge. Let RA protect accuracy and process. Let
PA protect context and permission. Bring them together when the moment demands
both—when regulation and reputation share a stage—and you’ll move faster, stay straighter,
and earn more trust.
Legal, and legitimate. That’s the point.
Q: What’s the difference between Regulatory Affairs and Public Affairs?
A: Regulatory Affairs manages compliance, inspections and approvals; Public Affairs shapes the
policy environment and public narrative.
Q: Do organisations need both functions?
A: Often, yes. RA protects accuracy and approvals; PA protects permission and trust. They
coordinate when issues cross regulation and reputation.
Q: Who are the key Irish stakeholders?
A: For RA: HPRA, Central Bank of Ireland, DPC, EPA, CRU, ComReg. For PA: Government
Departments, Oireachtas Committees, semi states, sector bodies and, where appropriate,
media.
Q: How do the two teams work together during an issue?
A: Regulatory Affairs owns facts and documents; Public Affairs owns lines and choreography.
Legal arbitrates risk; Corporate Communications ensures internal and external consistency.
