LOBBYING BILL WILL ENSURE NO MORE FRANK DUNLOPS - KENNY

Posted on October 1, 2014 12:41 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Speaking on the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014




Lobbying has a very important role to play in helping to ensure that all perspectives, assessments and opinions are presented and available to inform decision-making in key areas of public policy and legislative proposals. I strongly welcome the Government's decision to introduce the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014 to the House as it marks an important step in the process of helping to rebuild public trust in the political system by throwing light on its interaction with those who seek to shape and influence policy across all sections of society.

The intention of the legislation is to strengthen the degree of openness and scope for public scrutiny of the interactions and engagements between all sectors of society with our political and administrative systems.
This legislation will allow the wider public to reach informed evidence-based judgements about the extent to which different interest groups are accessing key decision makers across the political and public service systems and would increase the public understanding of lobbying activity in Ireland.

The legislation also clarifies what a "designated public official" is. It includes members of the Oireachtas, Ministers and Ministers of State and special advisors, Councillors and MEPs are also included. I understand that it is envisaged that on commencement the Bill will apply to communications with officials at Secretary General and Assistant Secretary level in the civil service and equivalent levels in local authorities. I believe that the Minister may prescribe further public servants as designated public officials and will have regard to the public interest in arriving at a decision.

The legislation will provide for a register of lobbying to make information available to the public on the identity of those communicating on specific policy, legislative matters or prospective decisions with designated public officials. The Bill allows for the development of a code of conduct by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Commission) it also provides restrictions and conditions on the taking up of certain employments by certain designated officials for a specified period of time where a possible conflict of interest arises. The legislation also states that a lobbyist must be registered before carrying on lobbying activities unless it is the first time to lobby. In that case the registration and the return must be completed before the next return date.

A regular review of the the effectiveness of the legislation is provided for. The first review should be held no later than one year after the commencement of the legislation, with each subsequent review should be held every five years thereafter. Reports on the findings and the recommendations of these reviews will be presented to both Houses of the Oireachtas within six months of the end of the relevant period.

The legislation establishes that lobbying activity is carried out by persons in the course of their business in return for payment by a client, an employer or his or her employee on behalf of the employer, or any person on matters about the development or zoning of land.

It defines the communications which constitute lobbying and those that are excluded. It also determines that normal citizen interaction with public representatives relating to his or her private affairs or communications by employers with ten employees or less relating to the affairs of that employer will not be included in the register unless the communication is in respect of land zoning or development.

Planning matters relating to an individual's principal private residence would be exempt, and the legislation also sets out other exemptions to the regulatory requirements in the Bill. Such exemptions include those relating to international relations, factual information sought by a public body or other information sought by and published by a public body, matters posing a threat to the safety of persons or the security of the state, communications between public officials acting in an official capacity, communications between members of a group established by a Minister or a public body subject to a requirement to comply with a transparency code, communications relating to trade union negotiations on terms and conditions of employment, communications in proceedings of an Oireachtas Committee, and communications between commercial State Bodies and their Minister/parent Department made in the ordinary course of business of the body corporate.

When lobbying is mentioned I always think of the lobbyist Mr. Frank Dunlop who played a starring role in the Mahon and Flood tribunals. He did send me lobbying material in the 1990s in relation to the Penine Holdings development in Baldoyle which figured in Mahon Tribunal, and in relation development near Clare Hall, on the Malahide. I recall that on one occasion the maps he sent to me were completely wrong.

I am very happy indeed to see this legislation before the House. Lobbying does play a very important role in politics, but it has also has the potential to be very badly and seriously abused, and I have seen this happen in my constituency when the lobbying process was used to facilitate corruption as was evidenced in the Mahon Tribunal.
This legislation will help to shine a light on the lobbying industry, and I very strongly commend this Bill to the House.