Tuesday’s Young Farmer of the Year awards ceremony was a notable event this year for many reasons. The strong presence from sponsors FBD, including interim CEO Fiona Muldoon and chair Michael Berkery, was noted, with Muldoon impressing those present with her comments. She described FBD’s relationship with its core customer base of farmers as “the envy of other insurers” and said FBD will still be there for farmers in 40 years’ time.

It was also notable because it was the first high-profile event to come under the embrace of the new lobbying legislation.

As and from 1 September, it is a requirement to log every interaction between a politician or Government official and a member of an organisation such as the IFA.

Government backbencher Michelle Mulherrin and Fianna Fáil spokesman on jobs and enterprise Dara Calleary were both present in Ballina.

The way it works is if, say, Eddie Downey, or for that matter the Mayo IFA chair or ICMSA president John Comer (also a Mayoman), were to ask for tickets for Saturday’s football replay, or talk about Joe Schmidt’s squad for the rugby World Cup, nobody would be interested.

However, should they mention milk price, the state of the roads, or the upcoming budget, the exchange must be logged – it’s regarded as lobbying even if it’s at the bar or in a lift.

The attitude seems to be there is no such thing as small talk in a small country.

The quiet word at a funeral or a match between a branch chair and a county councillor must be logged too.

The gas thing is all this logging must be done by the lobbyist, almost always amateur and volunteer, as opposed to by the politician or official.

The supreme test might be next week’s pre-budget lobbying session by the IFA. Upwards of a 100 IFA officers will be present, and more than half the Oireachtas will travel over to Buswell’s to meet them. That will mean thousands of interactions to be logged.

I understand the IFA is looking for a batch document. The type of thing you’d use for sheep movements could well be a template, although that might necessitate tagging all politicians and officials.