Consultants would have to name clients and politicians to be lobbied under Labour Bill

Professional lobbying of politicians and civil servants will in future have to be declared to the Public Offices Commission if a Labour Party private member's Bill becomes law.

The Registration of Lobbyists Bill proposes that consultants hired to make representations should be required to file returns identifying their clients, as well as the subject of the representation, and the persons or offices they are seeking to lobby.

The returns would have to be filed within 10 days of the consultants entering a contract.

The Bill also provides for a code of conduct for lobbyists, based on the broad principle that while lobbying is a legitimate activity, regulation of which should not impede access to government, the public has a right to know who is attempting to influence official decisions.

The code advocates open dealing and includes a warning that lobbyists should not place public office-holders in conflicts of interest by proposing actions that would be open to the charge of "improper influence".

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, introduced the Bill at party headquarters in Dublin yesterday, saying that lobbying was a perfectly honourable activity, with trade unions and aid agencies like Concern and Trocaire among its most effective exponents.

There was now genuine concern about the work of paid lobbyists, he added, and the suspicion that decisions were influenced by the "behind-the-doors nod and wink" was bad for lobbying and politics alike.

Nobody who wanted greater accountability in public life could oppose the measures, which affected only those who were paid to lobby, Mr Quinn said. "I want to reassure my colleagues in the Oireachtas and in local government that this Bill has nothing to do with normal clinic activity."

The proposals will be debated in private members' time in the Seanad tomorrow. If the Bill is not opposed by the Government, it is likely to go to committee stage during the summer recess.

The Labour senator Mr Pat Gallagher, who will introduce the Bill in the Seanad, said his interest in the subject stemmed from hearings last year of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children on the subject of the tobacco industry.

It had emerged at those hearings that the tobacco lobby had at times been privy to what might be considered confidential information about developments in the Department of Health. He said that while some might argue that lobbying should be prohibited altogether, his party's view was simply that it should be disclosed and put on the public record.

Companies spent a huge amount of money on lobbying, he added, and the practice was likely to become more sophisticated and intense in future years.

"I believe that Labour's proposal will be welcomed by the vast majority of public affairs consultants who specialise in lobbying, going some way towards lifting the perceived notion or suspicion that lobbyists are able to gain unfair advantage for their clients."

Mr Gallagher said the Taoiseach, speaking in the Dail earlier this month on the Paddy Duffy affair, had remarked that the whole area of lobbying and consultancy needed deeper reflection and debate. The Bill was just such an opportunity, the senator said.

The Public Relations Institute of Ireland welcomed the Bill in the light of the much-increased public attention on lobbying, and said its members would have no difficulty subscribing to the general spirit of the proposed legislation.

The institute particularly welcomed the proposed code of conduct, "which acknowledges that free and open access to government is an important matter of public interest and that a system of registration of paid lobbyists should not impede such access".

The Bill was also supported by the Public Relations Consultants Association which welcomed the opportunity for a debate. It said it was appropriate that steps were being taken to safeguard the reputations of those bona-fide persons engaged in lobbying.