Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

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 definition because in point of fact, in law, to prove that one was attempting to influence became an obstacle. Canada subsequently amended its federal law to change the definition from "attempting to influence" to "any oral or written communication made to a designated official". The definition used in the Bill is therefore the broad definition rather than the narrow one. We need to be more explicit in terms of exemptions to ensure that with such a broad definition, we do not capture all communications that would make the entire procedure inoperable, that all communications between officials and anyone else involved would be subject to the legislation. It would be bizarre if every time a Senator, for example, met someone in the pub it would be considered lobbying. That is the reason we set out in section 5(9), which I read to the House, what are deemed to be “relevant matters”. It is what we intend lobbying to be, which is matters relating to “the initiation, development or modification of any public policy”, “the preparation or amendment of an enactment” or a piece of law, or “the award of any grant, loan or other financial support, contract or other agreement, or of any licence or other authorisation involving public funds”.