Lobbying in Ireland: White Paper

Out relatively recently, following a public consultation (!) in March, there's a white paper on the registering and regulating Ireland's lobbyists: http://per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/Regulation-of-Lobbying-Policy-Proposals-3.pdf

There's also a general website for it here: http://per.gov.ie/regulation-of-lobbyists/

Some key issues arising from the submissions, which are then covered in the White Paper:

1. Support for regulation of lobbying – there is overwhelming support for the proposal in principle. Some concerns are expressed that regulation should not hinder interaction with Government.
2. Scope of registration – the submissions include varied opinions on which organisations and groups should be included. The views expressed relate to professional lobbyists, representative bodies, charities, trade unions and employer groups, professional services (accounting, legal firms), not for profit organisations and grassroots advocacy.
3. Status of Charities – the submissions express a concern that advocacy activities be treated differently or excluded and that the tax status of charities should not be compromised by their inclusion in a lobbying register.
4. Definition of lobbying – there is broad consensus that clarity is required on the definition of lobbying. Issues raised include discussion as to whether a threshold should apply below which regulation would not apply i.e % of time spent on lobbying, budget, size of organisation, status and purpose of organisation, etc. The preservation of normal constituent access to political representatives is also raised.
5. Ease of use – there is general agreement on need for accessibility & minimum bureaucracy in registering
6. Costs – The general view emerging from the submissions is that costs should not apply to those registering.
7. Detail of information to be supplied on register – there are varied opinions on level of detail necessary. Views range from registration of basic details on the organisation and subject matter to dates and descriptions of meetings, details of funding sources, financial information re spend on lobbying, background of individuals, etc.
8. Code of conduct – those who commented on this issue favour a code of conduct to accompany regulation.
9. Cooling off period - general support for the idea of 2 year period prior to re-employment of politicians or public servants where a conflict of interest exists.
10. Oversight – there is support for independent oversight of the regulatory system.

Many of us, I suppose, would not immediately think of charities when we think of "lobbying", but of course charities are assiduous lobbyists, and indeed should be, as per the intro to the WP:

Vibrant communication and dialogue and close interaction and engagement between government and citizens are central to a well-functioning democracy and are vital to support informed and evidence-based decision making. It also helps ensure that the policy formulation and development process benefits from full information and that all individuals, groups and interests in society have an opportunity to contribute to it. It also supports the political process in finding a balance between competing interests, in fostering consensus and in helping to guide and educate public and political debate.

Interest groups, representative bodies, industry and civil society organisations, NGOs, charities and third party professional lobbyists all provide crucial input and feedback to the political and public administration systems through communication of the views and concerns of the public to Government. However, they also clearly seek to influence the policy and decision-making process in order to align it to their goals and objectives. These goals and objectives may reflect a private, commercial or sectional interest or what may be represented as a wider public interest or benefit.

The scope of lobbying in Ireland is so far relatively small, at least in terms of professional or dedicated amateur lobbying - the following is from Appendix 1 of the WP:

The lobbying industry in Ireland is by no means sizeable; a 2010 figure estimates that there are between 100-200 consultant lobbyists and around 500-600 in-house lobbyists operating in Ireland.220 Such is the relatively small size of the professional lobbying industry in Ireland that it has been described as a ‘sub-sector’ of the broader PR industry. In Ireland generally lobbying is carried out by;-

(i) A small number of dedicated public affairs practitioners
(ii) General service PR firms
(iii) Professional services firms (particularly large accounting and legal firms)
(iv) Corporate finance companies
(v) Trade associations and representative groups
(vi) Former politicians, ex civil servants and former journalists on an individual basis
(vii) The corporate affairs functions of large corporate entities
(viii) Charities and NGOs
(ix) Trades unions and employers groups

Lobbying in Ireland may not occur on a scale similar to London, Brussels or Washington but it is growing. Most PR firms, agencies and NGOs now have ‘public affairs’ or ‘parliamentary affairs’ divisions that specifically target decision makers to further policy and legislation in their fields of interest. It has been argued that the growth of the lobbying sector in Ireland can be attributed to an overload of the political system; whereby TDs and Senators receive relatively little funding for researchers and policy advisors compared to the high demands placed on them by constituents to formulate policy. The lobbying industry has grown to fill this information vacuum.

However, lobbyists in Ireland do not only target members of the Oireachtas. It has been noted that lobbyists contribute to the policy making process through civil service officials, such as Principal Officers or Assistant Secretaries.

A couple of interesting points in that - the most subtle one, perhaps, is the comment about the lack of funding for parliamentary researchers and policy advisors. The latter term is, like 'lobbyist' itself, commonly a pejorative term in Irish public debate - "why do they need these 'advisors'?" we regularly ask. The answer is that parliamentarians vote on legislation on a wide variety of topics, with which they have a duty to be familiar - and those of us who have tried to rapidly familiarise ourselves with multiple issues sufficiently to argue them here know that that's a lot of work.

The virtual absence of parliamentary researchers in the Irish system reduces TDs and Senators to 'lobby fodder' - they're often voting on issues of which they have relatively little knowledge. And, as the Paper says, it's common for lobbyists to step into that gap, and to provide the TD with an account of the issue which is superior to anything he/she could produce from the available Oireachtas resources - sure, it's biased, but it's often the only thing a TD gets.

Other legislatures provide their parliamentarians with far more adequate research budgets - is the absence of such a budget almost entirely from the Irish system a serious flaw? It's worth considering that lobbying has grown in nearly every legislature over the past couple of decades, even where more resources are provided, because the issues being decided are increasingly technical and even where issues are not in themselves more technical, the amount of technical information and debate over them has invariably grown.

Are such issues increasingly decided by Ministers (and their advisors, and other people's lobbyists) with little reference to a tame Oireachtas? Is this yet another example of the almost complete centralisation of Irish political power?

cordially,
Scofflaw