Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

General Scheme of the Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for having been in the Seanad for a short time during the meeting. I would first like to get the witnesses' perspective on two concerns I have about the lobbying aspect, and then ask them whether they feel this proposed legislation will address them or could it be strengthened in that regard. My first concern arises from a scenario involving lobbying in the context of the membership of the business community or of a business group. I recall the discussion in another committee in which I was temporarily sitting during the scrutiny of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, between Canada and the EU.

That committee heard from a witness representing the Ireland Canada Business Association. Although the witness was clear that he was there on behalf of a business representative body and with a business mandate, he declined to clarify who all the other members of the body were. This issue relates to transparency in respect of from where an individual is coming and the body or group he or she is representing. Do we need to do more to ensure transparency in respect of the fellow membership, effectively, of a business representative lobby group or a coalition of business interests? It struck me as totally inappropriate that only two or three members of a coalition of business interests chose to state their membership while several other members remained anonymous. At the time, the general data protection regulation, GDPR, was inaccurately invoked in the context of declaring who were the members of their business lobby group. Will the Bill address that issue? I know it looks at individuals and their actions but I am wondering about bodies and their lobbying activities.

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