Objectives of the Act

The Act is designed to provide information to the public about:

* Who is lobbying;

* Who is being lobbied;

* On whose behalf is lobbying being carried out;

* What are the issues involved in the lobbying;

* What is the intended result of the lobbying.

The Act provides for:

* The Standards in Public Office Commission (the Commission) to be the regulator of lobbying;

* The establishment and maintenance of a publicly accessible online Register of Lobbying (the Register). (The Register is available at www.lobbying.ie.);

* Persons carrying on lobbying activities to register and to provide information regularly about their lobbying activities, including, in the case of professional lobbyists, information about their clients;

* The introduction of a “cooling off” period during which lobbying activity may not be carried out by some former DPOs;

* Offences and Penalties for certain contraventions of the Act.