Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I am grateful to him for outlining the provisions of the Bill and thank the sponsors of the motion for putting it before the House. This is an old chestnut. If truth were told, it itches at the skin of politicians in general that there should be lobbyists. In a way one feels somewhat undermined as a parliamentarian. One comes into the Houses, one is primarily focused on legislation and one tries to inform oneself as best as possible.

It can, however, be quite irritating to discover that while one is coming in through the front door of this institution, those who represent big business are exiting through the back door and that they have the relevant Minister in their pockets. That is the perception which many people have of us. I am glad, therefore, that some effort is going to be made to begin to regulate an area which has remained unregulated for far too long.

When considering this matter, I cannot help but reflect on the recent furore relating to our corporation tax regime and the fact that the head of a major multinational informed a US Senate committee that he had done a deal on the side with the then Government in respect of corporation tax. Even though the current Administration and IDA Ireland have denied this was the case, the charge that a side deal relating to tax was done with the Government of the day in the early 1980s remains.

If we do nothing else, perhaps we will bring about a degree of transparency in respect of this matter. I appreciate that the diaries of Ministers are already in the public domain but I hope that what we are doing will extend to ensuring that the public will be aware of the extent of the lobbying that is taking place. As already stated, lobbying can be insidious. What particularly annoys me is the fact that while we might be debating a Bill in the House, changes might be made to it elsewhere as a result of the efforts of a very efficient PR person. Such individuals invariably come from within the political establishment and will have previously worked with or been members of the various political parties.

I understand that the legislation does not contain any provision which imposes a time limit on former officeholders who leave these Houses in the context of when they can, as lobbyists, re-engage with their former colleagues. I am not sure this is a good idea. I am of the view that there should be a period during which these individuals would be prevented from operating within the political environment. They should not be able to move directly from these Houses and take up careers in lobbying. There are one or two glaring examples of former Ministers who ended up being major lobbyists for particular industries. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. However, the fact that a person could be a Minister one week and a lobbyist representing a particular organisation - and using his or her experience and access to former colleagues on its behalf - the next does not sit well with members of the public and nor is it right.

As the Minister of State is aware, RTE operates a specific system in respect of those who have held office or who have been involved in the public domain. I refer, in particular, to journalists who work as Government press secretaries and who then seek to return to the broadcasting environment. The most famous example of such a journalist is Mr. George Lee, who was a Fine Gael Deputy for approximately six months. Mr. Lee was not allowed to return to current affairs coverage for at least 12 months after rejoining the station. In a sense, this removed him from any potential controversy which might attach itself to him or, more importantly and by extension, to RTE, which has a public service obligation in the context of being seen to be fair and impartial.

Those are the issues about which I am concerned and the final one to which I referred is that in respect of which I believe there might be a need for some further reflection. I am of the view that those who have been elected to high office in these Houses should be obliged, on leaving office, to wait for a period before being allowed to engage in commercial activities and use their political contacts . I do not wish to inhibit anyone who may be unemployed from obtaining a job but a balance must be struck in the context of allowing the public to have confidence that we are not just moving the chairs around the room.