Careful whispers: What effect is lobbying having behind closed doors?

Some 800 corporates and PR firms have signed up to the national lobbying register in four months

The new lobbying register has been broadly welcomed by groups like Transparency Ireland, but the legislation has come in for some criticism

Big corporates like JTI Tobacco and McDonald’s are among approximately 800 organisations that have signed up to the lobbying register since it became operational last September. Unsurprisingly, well-known PR firms like Carr, FleishmanHillard and Murray’s are also in the mix.

The register, established under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, puts Ireland at the vanguard of lobbying transparency internationally. It will, for the first time, throw a spotlight on who’s meeting politicians behind ...