Flanneryy
[Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Frank Flannery, who stepped down as Rehab director and director of elections within Fine Gael this week]

Lobbying politicians is now, however, emerging as a specialisation within public relations and legal firms. Firms employing people with direct experience of the political world is also a practice that is growing. The list of professional lobbyists now includes former government press secretaries, former officials of all the major parties, some ex-TDs and a host of former journalists.

Ireland remains a small society, with a peculiar electoral system, which fosters a form of localism unsurpassed in Western Europe. Such localism benefits the small number of influential Irish lobbying firms, certainly no more than 10, who have copperfastened their position by employing former political actors to ensure access to the lobbying market. Frank Flannery’s work for Rehab in lobbying the Government could be seen in this context.”

Associate professor of politics at Dublin City University Gary Murphy in today’s Irish Examiner.

Need for regulation of lobbying is clear (Gary Murphy, Irish Examiner)

 McCabe
[Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe]

Philip Ryan, of the Irish Independent, reports this morning that the former CEO of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett, and AA Roadwatch director of consumer affairs, Conor Faughnan were questioned by gardaí in relation to their dealings with Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe last summer, after it emerged that they had been in contact with Sgt McCabe.

The investigation was launched after the former head of the Garda Traffic Corps, Eddie Rock – who is also a member of the RSA board – claimed his data protection rights had been breached.

It’s understood Sgt McCabe contacted Mr Faughnan to raise his concerns about the penalty points system and Mr Faughan put Sgt McCabe in contact with Mr Brett. Mr Brett sent on a dossier of Sgt McCabe’s complaints to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) and the Comptroller and Auditor General, and he also contacted the Department of Transport.

Mr Ryan reports:

“The two well-known public figures were not questioned as suspects but rather to establish if they had been given confidential private information from the whistleblower.
…
“The Irish Independent understands that gardai arranged to meet Mr Faughnan in his office, where he made a full statement on his involvement with Sgt McCabe. Gardai asked Mr Faughnan if private data had been “disseminated illegally” by a member of the force. He told gardai he met Sgt McCabe but insisted that he was not given or shown any personal information which could be perceived to be a breach of data-protection rules, according to a source. It is understood that Sgt McCabe’s name was not mentioned during the interview because his identity was unknown at the time.”

Road safety pair quizzed by gardai over McCabe meetings (Philip Ryan, Irish Independent)

Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

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