Financial Justice Ireland

Lobbying Organisation Financial Justice Ireland

Date published 21 May, 2016

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Finance

Period 1 Jan, 2016 to 30 Apr, 2016

Specific Details Ensure the Register of Beneficial Owners of companies is made publicly available.

Intended results Under new EU rules Ireland will have to compile a list of beneficial owners of companies to help avoid tax evasion: as part of the Irish Tax Justice network and together with Uplift we are campaigning to make this register publicly available.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Uplift carried this lobbying out, we signed up to it and it was distributed to members

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? Yes

What is the directive you gave to the grassroots campaigners? To email the Minister of Finance and Derek Moran, Secretary General of the Department of Finance, with the message 'I demand that the Minister for Finance and Derek Moran Secretary General of the Department of Finance ensure that the Register of Beneficial Owners is made publicly available."

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Email (1)

Uplift's website included the background that 'Under new rules being finalised by the EU right now, Ireland will have to record who really benefits from a company’s profits, ending the secrecy that tax dodgers rely on. But the government and the Department of Finance are coming under enormous pressure from lobby groups to resist making this register public.' We asked supporters to send an email that stated 'I demand that the Minister for Finance and Derek Moran Secretary General of the Department of Finance ensure that the Register of Beneficial Owners is made publicly available.' This was done as part of a coalition with Uplift, Christian Aid, Oxfam, The Debt and Development Coalition, Action Aid, Transparency International Ireland, ATTAC Ireland See: https://uplift.ie/taxjustice/

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Michael Noonan Minister (Department of Finance)

Derek Moran Secretary General (Department of Finance)