The Labour Party was given leave in the Seanad to introduce a Bill to control the activities of paid lobbyists. The second reading of the Registration of Lobbyists Bill is expected to be taken next Tuesday.
Mr Pat Gallagher, Labour spokesman on the environment, later said he hoped that the Government might accept the proposed measure, and he noted that the Taoiseach had indicated to the Dail recently that the Government would be prepared to work with a proposal of this nature.
He said the Bill would require paid lobbyists who tried to influence politicians or senior public service officials, or who made representations for payment, to register with the Public Services Commission. They would have to register the fact that they were paid lobbyists and also allinstances of lobbying carried out. He added that the Labour proposal had emerged following a series of hearings which the Joint Committee on Health and Children had held over the past year on the tobacco industry.
The intention of the Bill was to achieve far greater clarity about the way public policy was influenced in various areas.
Councillors should be allowed to participate more actively in the making of planning decisions, Mr Jim Walsh (FF) said. The planning process was too important to be left to officials in council planning departments, he believed.
Contributing to a debate on a motion to sanction the appointment of an additional member to An Bord Pleanala, Mr Walsh said there was also a need to ensure that councillors got the necessary training to equip them to participate in the planning process.
Several members called for steps to be taken to reduce the level of vexatious appeals to the board. Mr Fintan Coogan (FG) suggested that a two-tier fee structure might be introduced. Where the board felt an appeal was not solidly based, it should be able to demand a more substantial payment to have the appeal progressed further.
Mr Pat Gallagher said he would like to see some limitation place on appeals where those opposed to developments had not objected to applications made in the first instance to planning authorities.
The motion was agreed.