Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, that is fine and that is why they are grouped together. The essence of this line of discussion is to deal with the meaning of carrying on lobbying activities, as the name of section 5 indicates. The Minister has just referred to a number of amendments he proposes to make to the section but I have a number of concerns about this Bill and this issue is probably the one of most concern. I have tabled approximately 15 amendments on this area. I believe that while the legislation is both good and necessary, it is not going far enough. It does not cover aspects of lobbying that I believe should be included under the definition of "carrying on lobbying activities". As I said on Second Stage, the inclusion or exclusion of some of these issues will be the acid test for this legislation. Many issues have been mentioned in recent times with regard to lobbying and it is important that we take note of the current debate.

The types of lobbying referred to in my amendments Nos. 7 to 21 are specific and in many cases refer to Government monopolies which are not already included in the legislation. Some of them would be commercial in nature but others are monopolies. From that point of view, the issue of competition or an adverse impact on their financial situation does not arise. The issue of lobbying regulators is also very important because regulators can have a major influence on many activities carried out by public bodies and they need to be included or captured by this legislation.

I will start with amendment No. 7, which proposes to include under the meaning of carrying on lobbying activities, a person or body which "makes, manages or directs the making of any relevant communications to any member of Government in relation to appointments to State Boards". What we saw with the recent controversy over the appointment of Mr. John McNulty to a State board so that he would be eligible to run for the Seanad by-election was unedifying, to say the least. I am not referring here to the character of the individual involved, who I do not know. What transpired there was, to use the old-fashioned phrase, "stroke politics". The Minister would accept that and he knows that something needs to be done in the area of appointments to State boards. It is all well and good to passing legislation relating to lobbyists but if the mechanisms by which people are appointed to State boards cannot be captured in the legislation, then the legislation is very weak. I will judge this legislation not just on its individual sections, many of which are very good, but also on whether items that should be included are excluded. I do not want to have fig-leaf legislation, with people saying that it is great that we now have registration of lobbyists legislation, indicative of political reform, but when one examines the legislation one finds that some of the key activities that one would expect to be covered by it are excluded. When legislation is brought forward it should not be piecemeal but comprehensive. There is nothing more necessary to include in this legislation than the lobbying of members of Government concerning appointments to State boards.

The Minister issued a press release some time ago indicating that he will issue guidelines to Ministers, will consult widely on the matter and that the Public Appointments Service would be involved. He referred to gender balance on State boards and so forth, all of which is very good. However, none of it is being underpinned by legislation or regulation. All we have is a press release about guidelines and requests to Ministers, who may or may not have to follow those guidelines. Indeed, it will be quite some time before those very guidelines are finalised.