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

I move amendment No. 27:

In page 8, to delete lines 8 to 11.

This again relates to an exemption afforded to communications by or on behalf of a body corporate made to a Minister of the Government who holds shares in or has statutory functions in relation to the body corporate, or to designated public officials serving in the Minister's Department in the ordinary course of the business of the body corporate. As we indicated with previous amendments, this exemption relating to lobbying by commercial and non-commercial semi-state companies should not be excluded from transparency processes and scrutiny.

I can give a contemporary example. I listened on the radio a couple of months ago to one of the Minister's Labour Party colleagues from the Seanad reflecting on Bord Gáis and its acquisition of responsibility for Uisce Éireann or Irish Water. He made some fairly astounding remarks in respect of how that happened and accused Bord Gáis of misleading the Government. I do not know if the Minister heard this interview and I assume the Senator subsequently withdrew those remarks. I raise this example because, notwithstanding the commercial mandate of the commercial semi-state bodies - which gives rise to concerns about commercial sensitivities - there is a legitimate need to scrutinise and understand the lobbying that happens between semi-state bodies and the mothership, whether that is a Department, departmental officials or Ministers. The broad exemption afforded to these bodies in the legislation is a mistake.

The Minister has the power of exemption under section 5, and he has made a provision to allow that the sharing of factual information may not fall within the scope of the Bill. There is a definition of a relevant communication. I am very uneasy about this particular exemption and even at this stage I ask the Minister to reconsider it. The amendment seeks to strike out that provision.

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