Registration of lobbying will enhance transparency- Costello

1 October 2014

by Cllr Joe Costello

Speaking in Dáil Éireann on Registration of Lobbying Bill

 I welcome this opportunity to speak on the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014.  The Labour Party has long sought such a Bill, and it has introduced similar legislation four times since 1999.   Unfortunately, the legislation was rejected by the Fianna Fail led Government on each occasion.  If the bill had been passed back in 1999, we may have avoided some of the wrong doing that has gone on since that time and has given lobbyists a bad name.

The announcement by Brendan Howlin yesterday of the new process for ministerial appointments to State Boards coincides with his introduction to the Dáil of the Registration of Lobbying Bill 2014.  They are both timely and interconnected.  They both deal with transparency and accountability in the manner in which public policy is practised in Ireland. Again if all appointments to State Boards were advertised openly on the State Boards Portal and the applications and assessments processed by the independent Public Appointments Service (PAS), as has now been agreed by the Cabinet, then the shambles of the present by-election to the Seanad could not have occurred.

As a new councillor in the early 1990s, when Dublin City Council had responsibility for taxi plates, a professional lobbyist who was subsequently jailed for corruption, lobbied City Councillors strongly not to increase the number of taxi plates.  At the time there were 2-3,000 plates, now there are more than 14,000 plates.  Our proposal was for 800 additional plates.  When the lobbying did not work, the Taoiseach of the day took up the issue and effectively prevented the local authority from implementing our proposals.

 There is nothing wrong with lobbying per se.  Most of us have spent some time this week attending meetings with various interest groups, hearing their case for special consideration in the forthcoming budget. Such lobbying is beneficial to ensure that the concerns of no group in society are overlooked in the run up to the budget.  Our function as public representatives is to reflect the needs and concerns of our people through policy decisions and legislation.

The value of regulation of lobbying in fostering a culture of integrity is supported by the Organisation for Co-operation and Development which states "...a sound framework for transparency in lobbying is crucial to safeguard the public interest, promote a level playing field for business and avoid capture by vocal interest groups…”  The key objective in introducing a register of lobbying is to make information available to the public on the identity of those who are communicating with local and national Government and senior civil and public servants on public policy matters

The public has the right to know who has lobbied, is lobbying and will lobby politicians, and for whom and why lobbying takes place. The shocking disclosures by Frank Dunlop, lobbyist extraordinaire and former Fianna Fáil Government Press Secretary, revealed the web of intrigue, bribery and corruption spun by one professional lobbyist to secure the interests of his clients, namely, big business and big developers.  This was a chilling example of how a corrupt and ruthless lobbyist could poison the planning process for the entire City of Dublin.

If a Register of Lobbying had been in place, the lobbyist, his clients and their activities would have been a matter of public record.  The web would not have been spun and politicians and public servants could not have been ensnared.

A well-functioning democracy requires communication between the Government and the people.  It is important that policy makers are informed of the opinions of Interest groups, representative bodies, industry and civil society organisations, NGOs and charities.  These groups can offer useful input into the decision-making process.  However, their aims and objectives may be at odds with the wider public interest.  

This Bill does not seek to prevent this flow of information into policy making or legislation but rather brings about significantly greater transparency.  It is appropriate that this activity is open to public scrutiny as part of the desirable checks and balances that help to ensure any attempt to wield undue or improper influence on the conduct of policy development and decision making is discouraged.

Moreover, members of the profession support the introduction of a fair regulatory framework, such as that proposed in the legislation. They are annoyed at the bad name their profession has gained arising from the action of some lobbyists. I have been lobbied by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) who support the “aims and principles of this Bill”.

However, I cannot understand why the IFA, the Irish lobbying body most effective in the EU, are opposed to this legislation.  The transparency that it would bring can only be of benefit to them. 

I would ask the Minister to look again at the exemption of companies with less than 10 employees.  There are a number of companies with only a few employees who may have a large turnover and who can exert considerable influence. There is no direct correlation between influence and size.  I believe that it would be more appropriate to include the turnover or net worth of the company rather than just the size of the workforce in any exemption.

If powerful groups in society are using public affairs consultants to change laws or influence public policy then the public has a right to know about such activities and who is behind them. It is a simple democratic principle.  The Bill will go some way towards correcting the perceived notion or suspicion that lobbyists are able to gain unfair advantage for their clients and that special interest groups have the inside track on influencing government policy.