Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not get the opportunity to congratulate the Minister formally on his recent promotion. I wish him well in his job.

I welcome the opportunity of speaking on this new legislation, the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014, which I warmly welcome. If legislation comes before the House that people support, it is important that it is supported here. I welcome the legislation because it is relevant to the debate on what has taken place this week and all the cronyism that still exists in this country despite all the talk of reform during the last election. During the last election campaign, I recall clearly not only the Government parties but all TDs telling people at their doors that they represented reform, change, accountability and transparency. Those were their buzzwords, because people had had enough. The entire system needs to be radically changed and reformed, yet we have had more of the same this week.

When debating the Registration of Lobbying Bill, it is important to focus on the positive aspects of the legislation and the broader issues. People either support a meritocracy in any democratic society or do not. If people are competent in the field, they should be nominated and supported. This should be done as a matter of urgency. I do not say this lightly because, in the past, we saw tribunals and scandals in Irish politics. This must be cleaned up. For many years, Ireland was known as the land of saints and scholars, then it became known as the land of tribunals, cronyism and scandals. This must change now. Reform, accountability, transparency and straight politics are needed in this country. This should be the priority issue for the Government and all political parties.

It saddened me to see the shenanigans with regard to the Seanad and the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA. I remarked to myself that this is the same Government that wants to organise a banking inquiry. I would not trust many people in this respect. If they cannot handle a Seanad issue professionally and objectively and cannot handle a nomination to a board, many people wonder whether people in the cross-party group will be able to handle the banking inquiry. It is something we must seriously examine.

With regard to legislation on lobbying, it is important to focus. We must be careful about the democratic, open, honest lobbying that goes on in Irish society. I came across two examples in my constituency this week. I was asked to visit a local school, Belgrove Senior Girls School in Clontarf, to meet the staff and discuss class size and education for children with special needs. It was effective lobbying and did not cost any money. The public representatives met the local teachers and parents to discuss the importance of reducing class size and stopping cuts to education. That was honest lobbying. Following that meeting, I ended up in ChildVision on Gracepark Road, which is in my constituency. It is a centre for visually impaired and blind children. I met children who were visually impaired and physically and intellectually disabled. That group lobbied me and it was an example of good lobbying.

On the other side, we have the Taoiseach's gross mishandling of the nomination of Mr. John McNulty. It is an example of a tacky scandal, cronyism and bad lobbying. This is only the tip of the iceberg. We need reform of the whole system. We must root out the insiders and bring in people who are competent. It applies to NAMA and the recent opportunity when my friend, Deputy Shane Ross, tabled legislation dealing with the Judiciary. We must examine these reforms. People must trust and have confidence in people.

It was interesting to hear the Government running around saying that Mr. McNulty was highly qualified but got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I challenge that. There are many good quality people in the art world who would give an arm and a leg to get onto the board of IMMA. Artists involved in the sector would give their right arms to be involved in the board. I would like to do some lobbying for such people. If there are good people in education, music and the arts, and the disability sector, they should be put onto the relevant boards involved in providing services. Many of them are doing it out of a sense of public service. They are not looking for freebies, jaunts in cars or €15,000 per year. There are many quality people who are members of boards in the State and they do a fantastic job. They do not get any money and they do it out of a commitment to public service. They want to give something back to society. Let us make sure that these people are not labelled. I have seen examples of great practice in this regard. A classic example is the directors of the Northside Centre for the Unemployed on Glin Road in Coolock, Dublin 17. They are all voluntary members and they give their time and support to the local community. They get no freebies or trips. Many good people do voluntary work and it must be encouraged. They are also very talented and the Government must wake up to this point.

Although it seemed like I was going off message, I will stick to the legislation. Ireland lacks specific legislation regulating lobbying. This came up in the final report of the Mahon tribunal, which observed that such legislation:

...is likely to decrease the corruption risks associated with that activity by increasing transparency and accountability in the policy making process. Such regulation would not however, adversely affect the positive role played by lobbyists in the political system. On the contrary, it could well help promote a more positive perception of that role.

It is important to mention that in respect of what arose in the Mahon report. One of the reasons I am supporting the legislation is the following important point. The final report of the Mahon tribunal made five recommendations about lobbying, namely, that professional lobbyists be subject to registration requirements and that professional lobbyists be regularly required to disclose at a minimum the identity of their clients, the objects of their lobbying activity, and the details of the public institutions and public officials being lobbied. It recommended that professional lobbyists should be required to adhere to a statutory-based code of conduct. These recommendations were made at the time of the Mahon tribunal.

I welcome the legislation, which is part of the process of cleaning up the system. We all received a mandate for reform at the last general election and we were also lobbied about accountability and transparency. It is important that we know and identify the people involved in the industry. I note that recent research identified 401 organisations that could potentially engage in lobbying. The research did not include or sample private firms but included business associations, comprising 37.9% of the 401 associations; NGOs, 30.2%; professional associations, 21.2%; and labour and agricultural associations, comprising 4.2%. These are the organisations directly involved in the trade. We met many of the open transparent and democratic organisations, such as farmers groups, education groups, teachers groups and disability groups that are openly and sensibly lobbying. I welcome the legislation and I would like to see more of these kinds of Bills coming before the House.

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