Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Act deals with the regulation of lobbying and the requirements for lobbyists. I am revisiting this issue again because the Minister forced through a vote that did not allow debate on the motion earlier. The Minister brought forward a name for the approval of the House - Ms Geraldine Feeney, with whom I served in the Seanad. Ms Feeney is also a lobbyist and she lobbied on behalf of the NAGP, the organisation that is in the middle of the controversy about the Tánaiste, and then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, leaking a confidential document to his friend. Was the Minister aware that Ms Feeney was a lobbyist and that she only lobbied on behalf of the NAGP? That was the question before he put the proposal to the House. Did the Minister get an opportunity to talk to Ms Feeney about whether she had a role in the lobbying activity that took place in the audiovisual room on 21 March? If she did, was she required to submit a return to the Standards in Public Office Commission? Why did the Minister break precedent and shut down debate on this issue? It is a fundamental issue regarding appointments to the Standards in Public Office Commission, which has been seeking changes to the law for many years and which successive Governments have ignored.

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