Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My amendment, No. 17, harks back to an issue that we debated on Committee Stage. It revolves around a concern I had with the Bill's proposal to exclude lobbying by groups with ten or fewer employees. If memory serves me, on Committee Stage the Minister set out his concerns about having an onerous administrative burden on small businesses. By that as it may, I remain of the view that this provision in the Bill creates a dangerous loophole for those firms or partnerships which would prefer to hide their lobbying activities rather than comply. I put it to the Minister that if the registration and reporting process is available online, if it comes with clear instructions and is not otherwise onerous, it should not pose an insurmountable problem for those smaller organisations.

The Minister countered this amendment at Committee Stage with concerns about an onerous burden. I do not believe that is necessarily the case. On the balance of consideration, it is more important to ensure that there is not such an obvious loophole to be potentially exploited within the Bill. It will be a matter of good practice to ensure that the registration and compliance procedures are accessible and administratively friendly for all organisations.

While I am on my feet, I might raise a concern I have about amendment No. 18, which Deputy Sean Fleming lauded as a protection for volunteers. We would need to consider this quite carefully. Although we would not wish to overly burden any organisation, or certainly a volunteer organisation, with excessive red tape or bureaucracy, the amendment appears to have the effect of exempting from the registration requirement any communications made by volunteers or unpaid officials. That is the gist of it. This could constitute another loophole that might be exploited by the unscrupulous to avoid registering. We need to weigh this up. Arguably, a commercial venture or any entity could acquire the services pro bonoof A. N. Other, or, mar dhea, volunteers, and engage in lobbying through that mechanism. I have only recently been acquainted with the concept of astroturfing.

Has the Minister heard the term?

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