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

I tabled a series of 15 or 20 amendments, which we have discussed and which I believe should have been included under section 5, with regard to the definition of lobbying activities, including lobbying Government Ministers on appointments to State boards or consultants working on behalf of bodies in a variety of public regulators. I accept the Minister's statement that he does not want to overload the legislation before it even starts, but these are two key issues. I listed a large number of public bodies, such as EirGrid and the regulators, but if the legislation does not cover lobbying of Government Ministers on appointments to State boards it will be seriously defective. I oppose section 5 because of this omission.