Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 6, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 16 of Principal Act

9.The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 16:

“The code of conduct to protect the public interest from fossil fuel lobbying 16A.In this section—

‘fossil fuel lobbyist’ means a person carrying on lobbying activities, and such bodies representing them, for a fossil fuel undertaking or groups with fossil fuel undertakings as members;

‘fossil fuel undertaking’ has the meaning given to it in the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018.

(1) The Commission may produce, and from time to time revise, a code of conduct for fossil fuel lobbyists and designated public officials with a view to -

(a) promoting climate policy development and implementation in the public interest,

(b) curtailing the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists who have had for decades lobbied to deny science, and delay, weaken, and sabotage climate action - despite knowing their business heats the planet and destroys communities, and

(c) mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and complying with its obligations under section 15 of the Climate and Low Carbon Development Acts 2015 to 2021.

(2) Before producing or revising the code of conduct the Commission shall consult such persons carrying on lobbying activities and such bodies representing them, environmental NGOs, unions, and such other persons, as the Commission considers appropriate.

(3) The code of conduct may contain different provisions in relation to different descriptions of fossil fuel lobbyists and designated public officials which may include but not be limited to the following:

(a) limiting interactions between designated public officials and fossil fuel lobbyists to only where strictly necessary to enable designated public officials to effectively regulate the industry and accelerate the transition to a fossil free economy;

(b) interactions, where they do occur, should be requested by a designated public official and be held in a place that is open to the public, with public notice given in advance, and with detailed minutes published online;

(c) fossil fuel lobbyists should be excluded from participation in public institutions’ expert and advisory bodies (including fossil fuel lobbyists who are acting ‘in personal capacity’);

(d) designated public officials should be excluded from participation in fossil fuel undertakings’ expert and advisory bodies (including designated public officials who are ‘in personal capacity’);

(e) designated public officials should not appear at events, debates or activities, sponsored or organised by fossil fuel undertakings;

(f) fossil fuel lobbyists should be prohibited from organising events,exhibitions or other activities on Government premises, including in the Houses of the Oireachtas complex;

(g) designated public officials should be prohibited from inviting fossil fuel lobbyists to events, exhibitions or other activities on Government premises, including on the Leinster House complex, which are not otherwise open to the public.

(4) The Commission shall publish the code of conduct to protect the public interest from fossil fuel lobbying in such manner and form as the Commission considers appropriate.

(5) A person carrying on lobbying activities and a designated public official shall act in a manner consistent with the code of conduct.”.”.

This amendment is to address the issue of the fossil fuel industry, the vested interests that it has in maintaining its position and profitability, and its long history of funding climate change denial and climate change delaying tactics.

We have seen exactly how fossil fuel lobbyists have successfully watered down the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report from March, and how at the Conference of the Parties, COP, in Egypt the fossil fuel lobbyists actually outnumbered every national delegation. When I was an MEP in Brussels, we also saw how lobbyists were very keen to walk the corridors of power when seeking to influence politicians, but when it came to being held to account, ExxonMobil, for example, were nowhere to be found when they were asked to come in to the committee to explain why they had been funding climate change denial for years.

When we look at Ireland's lobbying registry, there are plenty of entries from fossil fuel companies. I believe that Vermilion Exploration and Production met the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, about expanding the current operations. Its managing director is now head of the Irish Offshore Operators Association, and it is also lobbying under that title. We have seen Europa lobbying lately, and very successfully, on the Inishkea gas prospect. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, granted them an extension. That lobbying was done by Joanne Lonergan who was with the Department of the Taoiseach for five years under the then Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and then was special adviser with the Minister, Deputy Harris, for five years until March 2021. By February 2022, 11 months later, she was lobbying with Murray Consultants on behalf of Europa Oil and Gas. This is all detailed on her LinkedIn account. From the lobbying register we can also see multiple requests from Mag Mell Energy, which is a developer of liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminals, seeking meetings with senior politicians. We have also seen them present in the audiovisual room in Leinster House, talking about the biggest risk to climate change being population growth and not carbon emissions. We have seen EPH-Tynagh Energy lobbying the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, through Red Flag Consulting. It has a new gas plant under appeal by An Taisce. Its lobbyist is Deirdre Grant, the managing director at Red Flag Consulting and special adviser previously to former Deputy Ruairí Quinn when he was the Minister for Education and Skills, and then Minister of State, Deputy Nash, at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation until 2016. We can see the revolving door between the corridors of power and lobbying are spinning nicely and are well oiled, to use that phrase. The lobbying sector is alive and well in the fossil fuel industry.

To tackle the climate emergency and ensure that climate policy is conducted entirely in the public interest, we must cut the fossil fuel interests out of our politics. We have done this with the tobacco industry. We accepted that there is nothing positive to come from the tobacco industry. We accept that in the climate emergency we need to decarbonise our economies and that we need to reach our 2030 and 2050 targets.

In practical terms, this amendment seeks to draw up a code of conduct for fossil fuel lobbyists and the people they lobby. Under this code of conduct, only designated public officials would be able to interact with fossil fuel lobbyists when it was necessary to effectively regulate the industry and to promote the transition to a fossil fuel-free economy. It would also only be at the request of the designated officials. If an official in the Department or a Minister needs to talk to the fossil fuel industry about regulation or about how we are going to decarbonise our economy, then that would still be allowed. What we must not have, is them proactively engaging and lobbying Ministers and officials to prolong that transition.

The code would also prohibit fossil fuel lobbyists from participating in public institutions or expert and advisory bodies, and from organising events on government premises such as in Leinster House. I have given the example of such an event in the audiovisual visual room here in Leinster House only a few months ago.

Some critics might say that this goes too far and that what we actually need is greater transparency, but as I have said the issue of transparency in the fossil fuel industry is the same as with the tobacco industry. We all know that we need to get off fossil fuels, and therefore I believe we need to go much further than just having transparency. From recent exposés, which included Irish MEPs, we have also seen that the fossil fuel industry was able to find a way around the rules no matter how high the bar was set with regard to transparency. I do not believe it is enough to protect the public interest. We need to effectively bring an end to the revolving doors and to fossil fuel lobbyists having access to officials and Ministers.