merrion street

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Brendan Howlin TD, today welcomed the high level of compliance with Ireland’s Register of Lobbying. The register was established under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 to give transparency on ‘who is contacting whom about what’.
Lobbyists are obliged to register their first returns under the Act by today, 21st January, showing any lobbying activity that took place from 1st September to 31st December 2015.
Minister Howlin said:-
“With some hours remaining to file returns, it is heartening to see almost 1000 registrants and over 1480 returns on the lobbying register.
The legislation is of course not an end in itself but a pathway to a culture change which recognises that transparent lobbying is essential to good policy making.
Over time I am confident that the lobbying register will continue to support and strengthen the information channels between the political system, the public service, and all sectors of society.”

Full details of the lobbying registrations and returns are available at www.lobbying.ie