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

It is complicated and we will get into it in more detail. Some of the organisations, like the IFA or the GAA, have many paid officials. More often than not we meet the local voluntary chairman who is here on behalf of the person who sent him with a very good briefing note. The latter was from an organisation with more than ten people. That can happen in sporting organisations. I have covered various aspects of the Bill.

I refer to some of the specifics. I am dealing with section 5(k). I have an issue in respect of communication between public servants. The story goes that Ryanair wanted to put an airport at Baldonnel and the civil servants who would be living under the flight path on the south side of city conspired and decided it was not a good idea. Public servants dealing with organisations other than their own should be brought into this. The organisation has a function in its own right and these matters may not always be in the public interest. I refer to commercial bodies, semi-State bodies and some of the regulators I mentioned.

The Minister has omitted the regulators from this legislation. The energy regulator, the National Transport Authority, the health insurance regulator and perhaps the Financial Regulator must be brought in under the legislation. They are key people in implementing Government policy. Section 5(l) refers to semi-State companies . It is okay if they are dealing with the Minister in the ordinary course of business, such as day-to-day activity or monthly or annual reporting. When there is a bigger issue to be dealt with, they should not be exempt from the legislation.

Section 5(7)(c) refers to relevant matters and the authorisation involving public funds. Is it voted funds? The matter has been raised in this House before. Are moneys that go to section 38 or section 39 organisations public funds? It has come out of the public purse and has passed onto a private body. Some of the organisations are mammoth and have a major influence on the delivery of key health services. We must tease out this matter.

Section 14 deals with delayed publication. I can understand that there might be a reason for it but an annual report should refer to where items are subject to delayed publications. Details do not need to be given but people should know whether there are matters of concern. Local authorities must be addressed. The Minister has included local authority members for planning and zoning issues.

What underlines this legislation is that people must be paid to do the lobbying. There is crossover between people in a company and volunteers working for the same company who are a front for the same organisation but are not being paid. That must be addressed.

I refer to factual information that has been requested. Statistics are factual information but in every organisation there are lies, damn lies and statistics. The same factual information can be presented in different ways depending on the point of view one is trying to get across. We must specify what factual information means because it normally means that people draw conclusions when looking at a graph.

With regard to grassroots lobbying, the Minister mentioned that the key aspect is the reference to managing or directing the making of relevant communications. A paid organisation can be directing the relevant communications even if the people involved are not doing it themselves. This deals with representative groups and associations.

With regard to the regulatory impact statement, I noted that we made provision in the Estimate of €350,000 for SIPO to get ahead with this. The Minister might tell us where we are now in that regard because the legislation will not be enacted before Christmas. Will that need to come back to the Department and be given to SIPO in next year's Estimate?

The principle of the legislation is welcome but my main concern is the level of admissions. Much of what is in there, in respect of the role of trade unions and investigations, is good. People cannot just walk in with a warrant from a District Court.

I will not deal with what I have not referred to because those elements are okay. They are necessary and I have no argument with the drafting. Fianna Fáil will table a number of amendments to broaden the scope of the legislation rather than its detail. I look forward to discussing it in detail on Committee Stage.

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