Results 9,081-9,100 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I thank Senator van Turnhout for her amendment and for the correspondence and the discussions we have had on this matter. I want to formally clarify on the record of the House that registering on this website once it has been established will have no impact on a person's application for, entitlement to or consideration of any matter referred to in section 5(9)(c) of the Bill. The Bill is...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I have already answered the point as I do not want to reverse the structure of the Bill. I presume what the Senator is referring to would take place in Northern Ireland, for example. Some Members in the House may live in Northern Ireland so when they go home and speak to neighbours, they could find themselves captured by the legislation. It is not practical to reverse the core of the Bill,...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: It would be impossible.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I would not like to leave the challenge of obduracy on the record. I have been very open to any suggestion and I have thought carefully about every amendment. I want this to be practical. I have indicated to the Senator that we cannot see this piece of legislation in isolation. Irish officials abroad are subject to the Standards in Public Office, SIPO, Act. I may have heard the Senator...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: As with many enactments, it was described as intrusive, overarching and the actions of a nanny state when it affected certain people but proper, thorough and correct when it affected everybody else. The Ethics in Public Office Act and the freedom of information legislation gives insight into any improper activities that might occur. I want to make this as practical as I can for the reasons...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I do not get overnights either.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The intention of the Bill is that lobbying activity be regulated through registration and reporting requirements, the responsibility for which lies on the lobbyist. That is the architecture of the Bill. If I am a lobbyist and I am going to lobby somebody then I must register. This amendment reverses that, which means that if it happens abroad, responsibility falls on the lobbied. I have...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That may be so, but it is not a legal definition.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I take it they would not arrive in England without being contacted in Ireland. If they are invited and lobbied in Ireland to go to England, then that obviously is captured.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: If the councillors are approached, as a council, by somebody through lobbying them, or if I get a letter in Wexford-----

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: -----from a UK company - of course that is lobbying.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: That would be lobbying.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: How do we capture that? How does SIPO follow that up?

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: There would be a legal obligation on that company to register because it is lobbying me in the Irish jurisdiction and it is captured by Irish legislation.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Senator is not a lobbyist.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: I thank the Senators for their contributions and amendments and I understand their concerns. The idea is that the Government will set out a number of designated public officials that will be captured from the outset. These include Ministers of the Government and Ministers of State, Members of Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann, Members of the European Parliament for...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: The Senator is somewhat luckier than me. When I received information of that nature I had to fight the case both in the High Court and the Supreme Court to protect the person who disclosed the information to me, as I thought was right and proper in relation to my duties as a Member of the Oireachtas, and the right of any citizen to contact any of us. It was for that very reason that when I...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Again, this was a matter we discussed in the other House. When framing the legislation, a number of options were considered in terms of how other countries define lobbying in legislation. The initial landmark legislation in Canada defined lobbying as attempting to influence public policy. That was the way other countries were going to go. However, that was found to be a very confining...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: Yes, even in a pub. I did not mean to say that there are some places that would be exempt. It is just the type of activities that would be exempt. If one did not have the narrowing of the definition to areas that we understand to be lobbying, and we had everything defined as lobbying, there would be no end to it in terms of what everybody would have to register. One would not see the wood...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying Bill 2014: Committee Stage (5 Feb 2015)

Brendan Howlin: No, Senator Norris is not. Implementation of policy is exempt. The whole idea is that the actual formulation, development and decision-making of what is to happen is what is covered, but once it is covered, the roll-out of the policy is not covered by the legislation nor was it ever intended to be. Neither is it covered in any other legislation of this nature of which I am aware. The...