Terry Brennan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The main aim of the proposed Bill is to strengthen public confidence in politics and in the business of Government as well as to increase the accountability of decision makers by subjecting public policy making and those who seek to influence it to greater openness and transparency as previous speakers mentioned. The Bill provides for a statutory web-based register of lobbying activity. The key features of the proposed regulatory system include the following. Communication with designated public officials or officeholders on specific policy legislative matters or prospective decisions will be subject to registration. The focus of the lobbying register will be on the subject matter of the communication. The purpose of the lobbying organisations and persons lobbied, and the type and intensity of the lobbying will also be registered.

It is intended that the Standards in Public Office Commission will be responsible for managing the implementation of the register and for monitoring compliance. An important part of this function will be to provide guidance to registrants. The proposed Bill will also provide for a cooling-off period of up to a year for former public officials seeking to lobby former work colleagues with whom they worked in a public body, as outlined by Senator Noone. A wider blanket prohibition on post-public employment is likely to conflict with a person's right to earn a livelihood. Normal citizen interaction with local political representatives is a fundamental democratic right and will not be subject to registration other than when it relates to land rezoning and development issues in light of the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal.

Lobbying activity forms an important element of the democratic process. It contributes to greater openness and transparency in public policy formulation, and provides valuable input into the decision-making process. The intention of the Bill is to continue to encourage such participation and engagement, but to ensure that it occurs in an open and transparent manner. I believe everyone is entitled to lobby. The issue with the lobbyist register is that everyone is entitled to know who is lobbying. It is also important that lobbying is done in an open and transparent way.

On the cooling-off period, people are entitled to make a living and we must respect that people have constitutional rights in this regard. The embargo on lobbying will apply not only to officeholders but also to senior public servants. People are aggravated that senior public servants dealing with an industry or an issue can seamlessly move within a month or so of leaving office to the other side of the fence, well armed with information and know-how. A year is a reasonable cooling-off period because matters move on without unnecessarily impacting on a citizen's right to earn a living. I support the Government amendment.