Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for bringing this very important issue before the House today. I am happy to update the House on the general scheme of the regulation of lobbying Bill 2013. As Members will be aware, the programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists and rules governing the conduct of lobbying. The public service reform plan contains a further commitment to meet these objectives through the publication of legislation in 2013. The final report of the Mahon tribunal also recommended the introduction of lobbying regulation and a code of practice governing the conduct of lobbying.

Regulating lobbying activity through registration and reporting requirements seeks to address the very concerns set out in the Members' motion. The aim is to strengthen public confidence in politics and in the business of Government, to increase the accountability of decision makers and to subject public policy making and those who seek to influence it to greater openness and transparency. The proposed legislation would also facilitate the appropriate independent scrutiny of lobbying activity.

The value of the regulation of lobbying, in fostering a culture of integrity, is supported by the OECD, which states that "a sound framework for transparency in lobbying is crucial to safeguard the public interest, promote a level playing field for business and avoid capture by vocal interest groups". The aim of this process is unequivocally not to restrict the flow of information, opinions, perspectives or proposals feeding into policy making or legislation but rather to bring about greater transparency in order that the public at large will know who is seeking to influence whom in respect of what. The reports of the Mahon and Moriarty tribunals have highlighted, inter alia, the risk that the legitimacy of the political system might be eroded by the corrosive impact of secrecy and undue influence. The Government has prioritised this issue since coming into office.

The general scheme of the Bill which will provide for the statutory regulation of lobbying was approved by the Government for drafting at the end of April and has been published. The general scheme has been forwarded to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform for pre-legislative scrutiny. It is intended that the Bill will be enacted this year.

As I have said, the fundamental objective of this initiative is to provide appropriate transparency on who is lobbying whom about what. This will allow the wider population to reach informed, evidence-based judgments regarding the extent to which different interest groups are able to access and influence decision-making. This legislation is intended to assuage public concerns that lobbying carried out behind closed doors could override the interests of the community as a whole.

The proposed legislation introduces specific registration requirements for lobbying activity falling within the scope of the legislation and also provides an enabling framework for the establishment of a statutory codefor the conduct of lobbying, in line with the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal.

The core principle guiding the proposed policy approach, as set out in the general scheme, is to continue to foster ongoing dialogue and engagement between Government and all sectors of society on public policy matters while ensuring there is an appropriate degree of openness in regard to such communications. To ensure the regulatory system is balanced and proportionate and does not give rise to unintended adverse effects, it is proposed that it will be introduced on a phased and incremental basis to ensure it works effectively and efficiently.

The development of the policy of lobbying regulation has been informed by several very valuable sources of information, analysis and experience. In December 2011, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform invited submissions from interested parties on key issues relating to options for the design, structure and implementation of an effective regulatory system for lobbying. This process was based on the agreed OECD principles for transparency and integrity in lobbying which were the subject of a recommendation by the OECD council in February 2010.

Research on international approaches was undertaken, including the regulation in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, several European countries and the European Union institutions. This work was advised and informed by the work of international experts on lobbying regulation, including Professor Gary Murphy of DCU, Professor Raj Chari of Trinity College Dublin and Dr. John Hogan of DIT, as well as comprehensive analysis and recommendations published by the OECD on lobbying regulation.

In preparing the details of these proposals, regard was given to five Private Members' Bills on the regulation of lobbying which have been published since 1999, four of which were introduced by the Labour Party and one by Fianna Fáil. The Department also reviewed the Fine Gael draft lobbying Bill included in its New Politics document published in 2010.

On foot of an extensive public consultation process, the Department published a policy paper, entitled Regulation of Lobbying Policy Proposals, in July 2012. This paper was intended to communicate the main policy options to interested parties, including Departments and bodies under their aegis as well as the public more generally. The paper was the subject of a seminar in July 2012 which was attended by large numbers of stakeholder interests and experts and was followed by a further short and focused consultation phase focusing on the issues raised at the seminar and in the paper.

It is essential that normal local and constituency related interactions should be unaffected by the proposals to regulate lobbying. Such interaction includes day-to-day contact between individual citizens and their local political representatives, constituency Deputy, councillor or public representative in regard to any issues affecting them as individuals. These interactions will be excluded from the scope of the regulatory system.

It is unequivocally the case that there should be no registration requirement for an individual contacting his or her political representative in the context of communicating his or her views as an individual citizen on any issue. The only exception relates to matters relating to planning, rezoning or development of land. Similarly, micro-sized enterprises will be excluded where the communication relates to that enterprise.

It is intended that the proposals would lead to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the final report of the Mahon tribunal. There is a close alignment between the commitment included in the programme for Government and recommendations made in the report of the tribunal relating to the establishment of a statutory register of lobbying and a professional code governing the conduct of lobbying. Indeed, in light of the key objective of securing greater transparency in regard to the development of public policy and legislation, the intention is to adopt a comprehensive definition of lobbying, encompassing a broad range of interest groups beyond the relatively small number of consultant or multi-client lobbyists which were the primary focus of the recommendations and findings of the tribunal.

The key objective of this legislation is to promote greater transparency regarding the formulation and development of public policy. In the course of consultation on this legislation, many stakeholders have referred to the need for a level playing field for stakeholders in regard to the development of policy initiatives, the need for more initiatives by public bodies across the public service in inviting submissions from and engaging in consultation with organisations in the pre-legislative phase or early stages of policy development and securing greater transparency by public bodies in regard to their interactions with stakeholders.

While the introduction of lobbying regulation and the parallel implementation of such measures as the restoration and extension of freedom of information would be expected to contribute significantly to the Government's transparency objectives, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, recently formally issued a letter of intent for Ireland to participate in the multilateral global open government partnership which is expected to provide a framework for the development of specific proposals designed to promote a more open and consultative approach to policy formulation and to encourage more proactive release of information on interaction with stakeholders by Ministers and senior civil and public servants.

The Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society responded to the extensive consultation process I referred to earlier and welcomed this initiative. In their submission they stated the significant impact of market forces on public health outcomes provides strong justification for a legislative and regulatory response by Government in the area of lobbying, highlighting that voluntary codes are not conducive to good health outcomes. While their submission also raised a number of broader issues which do not fall under the scope of lobbying regulation, it was clear that the design of the regulatory system proposed in the general scheme of the Bill goes a long way to meeting their recommendations in the area of Government engagement with industry and, in particular, the introduction of a lobbying register providing transparency and a code governing the conduct of lobbyists.

The Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, will act as the registrar for an initial two year period, given the alignment of this area of activity with its current functions. The long-term appointment of a registrar will be reviewed in light of developments around a new ethics framework and the possibility of the establishment of new or revised structures to manage the oversight of integrity obligations. The focus of the registrar for the initial two year period will be on education, guidance and information to foster compliance. While it will have powers of investigation, powers to name and shame individuals and organisations who do not comply with registration requirements and offences provisions to address more significant breaches of statutory requirements, these provisions will not come into force until a review of the implementation of the Act one year after its commencement.

The regulation of lobbying would be expected to contribute to the further professionalisation of lobbying and increase public understanding of it. Regulation of lobbying renders politicians and Government officials more accountable and helps to promote greater transparency.