The new legislation will be enacted from 1 September and has been denounced by farm organisations. A spokesperson for the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) said the new rules seem excessively bureaucratic and unworkable in the long-run.

Speaking to this week's Irish Farmers Journal, Sherry Perreault, the new head lobbying regulation at the Standards in Public Office Commission, said that members of interest groups would have to register all contacts with public officials in the interest of transparency.

Perreault added: “A quick email, a chat on the phone or a chance encounter in the shop or on the street may be just as effective, and frequently used, as formal meetings in Leinster House. Regardless of the venue or level of formality, it must be registered.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Reacting to the legislation, the ICMSA spokesperson asked: “If I walk into my local supermarket and meet the local TD and we end up talking about milk prices, does that constitute lobbying? Will I have to register that encounter four months down the line? I just don't see how this new legislation is feasible.”

30 to 50 meetings a year

Currently the ICMSA hold between 35 and 50 public meetings with political representatives a year, all of which, the spokesperson says, are published in farming media outlets and on its website. “There's nothing secretive about the way we hold meetings with politicans at the moment,” the spokesperson added. “So this just seems excessively bureaucratic.”

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) also referred to the new legislation as bureaucratic. The ICSA said it had registered and would have to bear the cost of hiring a new staff member to report its activities. ICSA general secretary Eddie Punch said there were also limits to the workability of the legislation if it requires the registration of activities such as an unscheduled encounter with a senior official in a bar.

“We're looking into the finer details of the new rules at the moment to make sure we know exactly how they will work. But it does seem the legislation is better suited to big multi-nationals or corporations that might wish to keep their lobbying activities a secret from the public. Practically every time the ICSA has a meeting with political representatives we issue a press release on it as we want farmers to know we are lobbying on their behalf. Transparency is very important to us and has always been to the forefront of what we do.”

“Culture change”

Responding to these criticisms, Perreault said that chance encounters in a supermarket or bar “will constitute lobbying” if the person raising the topic for discussion is an employee of an advocacy body that exists primarily to take up particular issues.

“If the paid employee or office holder of the advocacy body is communicating on issues of relevance to the body's members then that can be considered lobbying,” she said. She acknowledged that the legislation is a “culture change” and that it “will take time to sink in” but added that it will benefit the transparency of the political system in the long-run.

According to Perreault, enforcement of the legislation will not come into play until September 2016, one year after the initial enactment. “This is to give people time to get used to the system and how it works. After that there will be penalties in place,” ranging from fines of around €200 for delayed reporting of lobbying to prison sentences for obstructing an investigation.

An IFA representative said the legislation adds an extra layer of bureacracy to the organisation's activities and places an onus on resources. “Having said that, we are registered and ready to try it out starting in September. Quite a lot of work has gone into getting prepared for this so it should run fairly smoothly,” the representative added.