Alison White attends meeting of PRCA members in Belfast

Published on: Monday 23rd May 2016

On 26 April, Alison White, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, spoke at a meeting of public affairs professionals in Belfast, hosted by the PRCA, Northern Ireland. Alison was joined on the platform by the Head of Lobbying Regulation for Ireland, Ms Sherry Perreault. In Ireland, lobbying regulation commenced last September, and the Register of Lobbying is maintained by the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The meeting was chaired by Paul McErlean, MD of MCE Public Relations and Chair of PRCA NI, and the audience heard about the progress of implementation of lobbying regulation in both countries, the differences between the legislation in both jurisdictions, and the potential implications for consultant lobbyists based in Northern Ireland.

Alison said afterwards: “I was delighted to attend this meeting and share my experiences of setting up and operating the UK statutory Register of Consultant Lobbyists. I hope that public affairs professionals based in Northern Ireland will now have a clearer understanding of their obligations in the event their work requires direct communications with Ministers or Permanent Secretaries in the UK Government.”