Greater transparency on how public policy is formed and how decisions are arrived at is central to securing more effective public governance and bridging “a trust deficit” between citizens and State institutions, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has said.
In an address to a seminar on lobbying at Farmleigh House in Dublin yesterday, Mr Howlin said the key objective in its proposals to regulate lobbying, through the introduction of a register and a code of conduct, was to make information available to the public on the identity of those seeking to influence public policy decisions.
“The outcome we are reaching for in establishing an appropriate regulatory system for lobbying is that it will succeed in assuaging concerns that lobbying carried out ‘behind closed doors’ overrides the interests of the community as a whole and is not properly balanced by providing access for alternative perspectives,” he said. A policy paper on the regulation of lobbying was published by Mr Howlin on Wednesday.
