Ex-ministers ‘swanning around’ Leinster House as lobbyists should lose access, Dáil hears

A call has been made for former TDs and Senators who become lobbyists to lose their automatic right of access to Leinster House.

Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall said “the revolving door between politics and private business” had to end.

She said “I see it on a regular basis on budget day with various ex-Members getting the ear of the Minister. That needs to stop.”

Oireachtas members retain the right when they leave or lose their seat to have unlimited access to Leinster House, including the members’ and public bars.

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“People think ‘there are hostages – it is what it is’. But there are families who cannot carry on with their lives”

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Perpetual access is “a huge privilege and should not be taken away lightly”, Ms Shortall said. But “an insidious situation” had developed where a number of former TDs and Senators “use that privilege to gain undue access” to Ministers and other influential TDs and Senators.

“This is particularly the case with ex-Ministers, who we frequently see swanning around the corridors of this complex.”

She recalled a legislative debate a few months ago on an environmental matter when people were “going in and out to the bar, not necessarily to drink but because there was a series of votes taking place and they were waiting for that”.

An ex-member of the House, now a senior lobbyist in the area was “sitting at the bar counter chatting and buying drinks for Members. That just should not be allowed.”

Ms Shortall was speaking during a Dáil debate on the Lobbying (Amendment) Bill which aims to strengthen provisions of the 2015 Act.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath, who introduced the legislation said he agreed that lobbying by former members should not take place in Leinster House. “There are plenty of other places where it can take place”.

But he said “it is not for this legislation to determine who can or cannot access this House. Those rights to access this House have been clearly established.”

However, he said it was “a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to determine rules of access to this House and of the activity conducted while those persons are in attendance here”.

The Minister said “it is crucial that lobbying activity be open to public scrutiny.”

The amending legislation will bring business representative bodies and coalitions of business interests, regardless of how many employees they have, within the scope of the Act.

It also aims to improve how the lobbying register operates. Currently, almost 2,300 organisations or individuals have registered their lobbying activity and over 63,300 returns have been made.

Sinn Féin public expenditure and reform spokeswoman Mairéad Farrell said she had “never understood” since being elected to the Dáil how former members “are permitted special access all the time” and such access was “outrageous”.

Ms Farrell welcomed a provision in the legislation which makes it an offence for a former member to breach the 12 month “cooling-off period” before becoming a lobbyist.

The Minister said there would be a range of sanctions including “a caution or reprimand, a monetary penalty of up to €25,000 and a prohibition from lobbying of up to two years”.

Special exemptions can be made for that cooling-off period and Ms Farrell expressed concern that the Government would not require the names to be made public, of those granted the exemption.

Her party colleague Louth TD Ruairí Ó Murchú said naming the exceptions “fits into the idea of openness and transparency”. He said “if there is a reason for such an exemption, there is nothing to hide”.