Ms Sherry Perreault:

The role of the public representative is to represent his or her constituents and raise any issues that he or she believes to be of importance and in the public interest. There is nothing in the Regulation of Lobbying Act that would impede the role of the public representative in that regard. I am aware that there are instances where a public official may be lobbied by an organisation that shares the views of the public representative. If the representative is engaging in lobbying on behalf of that organisation, by which I mean the organisation has explicitly asked the public representative to raise a matter with a Minister or departmental official, the organisation that is engaging in that lobbying must submit its returns and name the public official it has to asked to do that. If, for example, the Vice Chairman is asked to engage on behalf of a charity with which he has worked, the charity needs to name the Vice Chairman on its returns. That said, there is nothing that impedes him in his role and there should not be any issue. There is nothing that would require the public official to either alter his or her proposed actions or to submit returns.

There is one caveat to that. I know there are a number of Members of the Oireachtas, both in the Dáil and the Seanad, who engage in outside employment, particularly if they are not officeholders. Let us say a Member owns a business or is a consultant in his or her private life. If that person is lobbying in respect of that business interest, he or she should register and submit returns. That situation would not enjoy the exemption of lobbying in the capacity of a public official because the person concerned is not wearing that hat at the time.