Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

The Mahon tribunal was discussed at length in this House and all political parties gave responses to it in a comprehensive manner. The fact that some recommendations are being rolled out is timely. I would have liked if the response paper referred to by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, had been circulated to us in advance. I understand he had to leave to speak in the Seanad. The fact that a comprehensive suite of measures is being put in place is most welcome across Irish society. The detail of what unfolded from the Mahon tribunal disgusted the public and led to a complete undermining and erosion of the trust people had in politics and in some public representatives. A small number of public representatives brought the whole body of public representatives into disrepute. That is regrettable.

One of the recommendations advanced is legislation to implement a register of lobbyists. My party published a proposal on that a number of months ago and made a comprehensive submission to the public consultation process undertaken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Recently, we partook in a public consultation seminar in Farmleigh, which was quite informative. That proved quite useful because it threw up difficult anomalies that must be squared before we can bring about an effective and transparent registration of lobbyists. For example, some legal houses are engaging in lobbying. There are concerns from some people in the legitimate lobbying industry that legal privilege will allow law firms to engage in lobbying without having to register. Some of the interesting discussions centred on cooling off periods, which referred to people exiting politics and going into private enterprise and engaging in lobbying. There is a debate about how long the cooling off period should be. I posed the reverse scenario where people who had been engaged in the art of lobbying entered the world of politics and find themselves quite close to decision-makers, whether working as special advisers or as officeholders.

As public representatives, we are lobbied every day. The vast majority is in the public interest and for the right reasons. There is not something necessarily wrong with it. There is a perception that it is part of the dark arts. Some people who are not well known and who are not household names have ease of access to the corridors of power and to decision-makers. That must be equalised and the system must be put on a level playing pitch so that everyone knows who people are talking to about public policy. Lobbyists who are former public representatives or personalities are household names. However, many lobbyists are former high-ranking civil and public servants and people who worked at the top levels in the back offices of political parties. They are not household names yet they have access. That must be equalised and it will make for fairer legislation in the long run.

Much has been made of conflicts of interest. There is a problem where there is a conflict of interest or where there is a perception of a conflict of interest. We await with interest how the Government response paper will deal with conflicts of interest.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government mentioned trust and the planning system. I agree with him on that point but we must remember that planning issues, irregularities and allegations of corruption and irregularities do not stop at the Red Cow roundabout. We discussed this in the House and outside it. There was disagreement in this Chamber on what should be done regarding the seven named local authorities in respect of which the former Minister, John Gormley, intended to establish investigations. If the Government is serious about implementing the recommendations in the Mahon tribunal report, there must be a broader and deeper examination of the allegations relating to those authorities. In the time since that debate took place we have heard about the situation in Waterford in respect of which my party called for an inquiry. We had the trial of Mr. Forsey and his conviction on a charge of corruption. It is beyond comprehension that members of Waterford County Council would proceed to make a decision on land zoning in the midst of a Garda investigation. That is a matter of great concern to the public.

Also of great concern is the situation in Wicklow. As I understand it, the elected public representatives from Wicklow County Council who sought a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, were told by him that they would have to deal with the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. If the Government is serious about cleaning up irregularities across local government - which the Minister is charged with doing - then there must be access to Government for local government representatives. It is not good enough that elected members of Wicklow County Council are being denied access to the persons in Government with special responsibility for planning matters throughout the State. There are several issues under contention in Wicklow, one of which reached a settlement in the High Court that will potentially expose the State for up to €60 million. I understand several investigation files have gone missing, including one referred to as the Ballybeg file.

It is not good enough for the Government to set out a plan of action on foot of the recommendations in the Mahon tribunal report while choosing to ignore all of the other zoning cases throughout the country which are similar and relevant but not mentioned specifically in the report. The refusal by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to meet with elected public representatives from her own party is beyond belief. I am told that a complaint in this regard will be lodged in due course with the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO.

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