‘Take away Dáil passes to prevent fly-by-night lobbying’

Former Leinster House staff should have their Dáil passes taken away to avoid “fly-by-night” lobbying, according to an academic who advised the Government on a bill due to be published shortly.

Gary Murphy of Dublin City University said recent revelations that Frank Flannery, the former Fine Gael strategist, was “swanning around Leinster House” while the Rehab group, which he chaired, was before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee highlights the need to tighten up regulations.

Prof Murphy was speaking at a conference organised by University College Cork entitled ‘Sovereignty Regained: Has the bailout changed the Irish State?’

It heard contributions on how the media covered the financial collapse, the role of political advisors, and public service reform.

David Farrell praised the role of the Constitutional Convention as a good example of political reform.

He said the referendum on marriage equality has a better chance of being passed because the question emerged from citizens rather than politicians.

Eoin O’Malley of DCU however, said many reforms have been “soft options”, arguing that the Constitutional Convention and gender quotas have done little to improve governance.

Prof Murphy said it is impossible to legislate for “casual lobbying”, or what former Progressive Democrat leader Michael McDowell described as “fly-by- night lobbying”.

However, he said there are ways of getting around it, such as removing access passes to ensure people are in Leinster House or Government Buildings as lobbyists and not “in a different guise”.

He said he did not understand comments by Ruairi Quinn, the education minister, that he spoke to Mr Flannery about concerns on state funding for the charity group “but not in a lobbying way”.

Dr Murphy said the bill, which plans to create a register of lobbyists, will ensure that policy making is conducted “in an open and legitimate manner — free of corruption”.