[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)