The FOI Files: How lobbying returns can uncover how organisations attempt to influence policy

This installment of The FOI Files, by editor and investigative journalist Maria Delaney, explains how returns to Ireland's Lobbying Register can be used as a starting point for Freedom of Information (FOI) investigations. Lobbying is defined as communication, direct or indirect, with a high-level official about public policy, law or land zoning, and can take the form of emails, calls, event invitations or meetings. Because the register only gives glimpses of these interactions, journalists use it to identify who met which officials and when, then request the underlying records through FOI. The article cites the outlet's investigation into Irish vaping laws, where extensive register searches surfaced numerous tobacco companies and representatives, and FOI records showed that one of Ireland's biggest tobacco companies instructed lawyers to raise concerns over a public consultation on stricter vape regulation. It also details a 2021 case involving The Wayfinding Centre, a transport-related training centre for disabled people whose cost nearly tripled from an initial estimate of €2.7 million to €7.8 million when it opened in 2024, with €3.5 million from public funds. The register showed that the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI), now Vision Ireland, met then Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan about the centre between September and December 2020. FOI correspondence showed that just over six months after the meeting, NCBI chief executive Chris White sent the minister's team a template letter of support, asking the minister to sign off a statement; the minister's subsequent letter retained much of the proposed wording. The Department of Transport said the minister is very supportive of initiatives making public transport more accessible and was pleased to confirm his support for the centre. The article concludes that lobbying returns are a valuable tool for obtaining records that illuminate how Ireland works, and invites readers with FOI questions to contact the investigations team.

(Source：The Journal)