Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I join with Senator O'Toole and Senator Boyle in asking the Leader for a debate on lobbying. If we have learned anything it is that the golden circle that pertained in Irish society can no longer rule and can no longer have access to power. The lobbying that went on in the Galway tent must be a practice from a bygone era that can never be allowed to happen here again. I call on the Leader, and on Senator Boyle, to come into this House before Christmas to put the commitment in the programme for Government into action. Let us have a register of lobbyists. Let us make politics and the way we do business open and transparent where people can have confidence, with access to power not based upon who one is but what is best for the country and the communities we serve.