Professor Gary Murphy:

No. I wrote that phrase very carefully. I have been teaching about the localism of Irish politics for a long time. Nobody working on the regulation of lobbying is trying to stop people going to elected representatives' clinics to make representations. That is not what this is about at all and it was not the case in 2015 either. I am in favour of voluntary lobbyists registering and allowing people the opportunity to see what they are lobbying for because it all goes to the heart of public policy. If we start drawing distinctions as to whose lobbying counts and must be registered and made public and whose does not, there is the potential for a slippery slope that would allow people to say they did not realise they had to register or make a disclosure. I do not believe it is too onerous, which is a point I made to Deputy Doherty. To reiterate, I believe the 2015 Act and this subsequent Bill get it right for the most part. When I wrote that report and gave some pro bonoadvice to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the period from 2013 to 2015, the questions Deputy Jim O'Callaghan has just asked came up. I reiterate the point that we have a relatively small polity. It is not a matter of forcing people but of changing the mindset so that people know that, if they lobby, they register, their engagements get uploaded and that is the end. That is how I feel it should be. I hope that makes some sense.