Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes, even in a pub. I did not mean to say that there are some places that would be exempt. It is just the type of activities that would be exempt. If one did not have the narrowing of the definition to areas that we understand to be lobbying, and we had everything defined as lobbying, there would be no end to it in terms of what everybody would have to register. One would not see the wood for the trees. We need to find out what real lobbying and influence is and to do that we need to have a clear definition of what lobbying will be. That is what is achieved. Looking at international best practice, I think that is achieved in the Bill.

Last week on Second Stage I said that we have probably taken more feedback on the legislation from stakeholders than on any other legislation because, in a way, although it is probably seen by many as not as important as the Freedom of Information Act or even the other related legislation, in a way it goes to the heart of what politics is about, namely, the interaction of public organisations with policy-makers. We wish to facilitate a proper democratic interaction. We wish to do that in a transparent way but we do not want to make it hidebound such that it would be impossible to do public business. For those reasons, I do not propose to accept the amendment.