Rónán Mullen (Independent)

We cannot prohibit people from making donations if it is lawful, but transparency is important in that instance. I am on record as supporting the closing down of such corporate donations. If the Women's Political Association rightly wants to see more women in politics, it should have the capacity to approach individuals and ask them to donate to female candidates in different constituencies, if they agree with its aims. We need to build up the connection between the politician and the party on the one hand, and the personal sacrifice by the voter on the other hand.

We will never be able to avoid a situation where richer people will be able to donate more. We deal with that by putting in an overall limit, but it is a healthy thing to promote the idea of individuals funding parties and individuals whose ideas they support, provided it is done in a transparent fashion. That is how to promote political engagement. The rot sets in when the taxpayer is indirectly funding people's next election attempt through the public funding system, or when corporate entities fund people and compromise them in what they do and say in politics, and do so in ways that are not transparent. We must not mix the issues.

It is important to separate the notion of private donation from corporate donation. In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections could not be limited, pursuant to the right of those entities to free speech. Senator Bradford raised this earlier. This shows how wrong America can get it sometimes on certain issues. That case was the latest in a series of decisions which deeply misunderstood the concept of corporate personhood which, as indicated earlier, is essentially a legal tool to give a corporation personality to undertake contracts, purchase land and so on. The corporation is not a person and should not be seen as a person in the sense of being a citizen. It does not have democratic rights such as the vote or the ability to stand for election. That is why we should see corporations as completely different from personal donations because corporations have a different purpose. They may have legal personality and may be able to do business but since they do not have the right to vote and the ability to stand for election they should not have the ability to donate either. They are self-interested bodies, I do not mean in any pejorative sense, designed to ensure profit for their shareholders and company members, and should not be allowed to influence democratic political decisions made by citizens.