Regulation of Lobbying (IE0014)

Secure Government approval for, publish and enact the regulation of Lobbying Bill. Development of a Transparency Code in relation to the transparent operation of working groups, task forces etc appointed by a Minister or Department.

(✪) 3.4: Lobbying Regulation

Commitment Text:

Action 3.4 - Regulation Lobbying - Secure Government approval for, publish and enact the regulation of Lobbying Bill. Development of a Transparency Code in relation to the transparent operation of working groups, task forces etc appointed by a Minister or Department.

Responsible institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER)

Supporting institution(s): All public bodies will be involved in implementation once the Bill is enacted.

Start date: July 2014                                                                                     End date: March 2015

Editorial note: Commitment 3.4 is clearly relevant to OGP values as written, has transformative potential impact, and is substantially or completely implemented and therefore qualifies as a starred commitment. 

Commitment Aim

The 2015 Regulation of Lobbying Act’s main aim is to shed light on lobbying in the development of public policy.^{[Note 46: Link to the Act http://bit.ly/1ZZtWhc (last accessed September 9, 2015)]} In this regard, the law seeks to add transparency and accountability to the overall policy-making process by allowing citizens to see which lobbyists were seeking to influence governmental departments making policy. The main principle guiding the law is to encourage transparency in the actions between government (including elected officials and civil servants) and all sectors of society on areas of policy that impact all citizens, primarily by developing a lobbying registrar where all lobbyists must register before contacting public officials.

Status

Midterm: Complete

This is a pre-existing initiative that seeks to introduce a Register of Lobbyists and new rules regarding the practice of lobbying as part of the Public Service Reform Programme launched by the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform in November 2011. By April 2013, the Government approved the drafting of the Bill.

This commitment was completed in year one of the action plan: the bill was published in 2014, passed through both the Lower and Upper Chambers of Parliament, and signed into law in the first year of the action plan in early 2015.

As of September 2015, the public Registrar of Lobbyists in Ireland was set-up and fully functioning, with a newly appointed Registrar (Sherry Perrault) and team in place and housed in the Standards in Public Office (SIPO). In year two of the action plan, an Advisory Group has also been established and is comprised of various stakeholders, including from business, unions, and NGOs. The advisory group was initially set up by DPER, with input from the Standards in Public Office Commission with regard to membership. DPER envisaged participation from a wide cross-section of civil society, and accordingly identified a list of organisations from various sectors, sending a letter inviting them to nominate a representative. It was a targeted call rather than an open call per se, although having a plurality of actors serving on the Group was always envisaged and subsequently assured.  

Did it open government?

Access to information: Outstanding

Civic participation: Did not change

Public Accountability: Outstanding

The change to government practice is outstanding on three main fronts related to OGP relevance. First, in terms of access to information, as of mid-September 2016, desk research showed that there is already over 5200 returns that the public can access to identify who is lobbying whom and about what, also reflecting the idea that lobbyists are complying with the rules.^{[Note 47: See: https://www.lobbying.ie/app/home/search?currentPage=0&pageSize=10&queryText=&subjectMatters=&subjectMatterAreas=&period=&returnDateFrom=&returnDateTo=&lobbyistId=&dpo=&publicBodys=&jobTitles=&client= ]} Second, having such information makes it possible to hold both public and private officials accountable for their actions. According to the Irish Times, the Irish press has increasingly reported instances of high-powered lobbyists meeting with state officials, thus bringing these meetings to the attention of the public.^{[Note 48: See: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/caveat-thank-you-for-lobbying-now-fill-out-the-register-1.2653796 ]} Citizens armed with this information have new opportunities to hold officials accountable for their actions when developing public policy by, for example, not voting for certain officials in the next election. Furthermore, with such information available, citizens and members of civil soceity living in strong regulatory systems such as Ireland have new opportunities to better inform themselves about who are the key actors in state decisions, therefore increasing their participation in politics, if they deem that certain lobbysts are exercising undue influence. This relation between strength of regulatory frameworks and participation is further developed in a comparative study of lobbying regulations.^{[Note 49: Chari, R., J.Hogan and G. Murphy, Regulating Lobbying: a Global Comparison (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2012)]}

Carried forward?

This commitment was not carried forward into the next action plan.