Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I agree with what Senator Hayden has said in that a trust does not have those selfish commercial or self-interested motives from the point of view of commerce but nonetheless a trust gathers money for the accomplishment of a particular purpose. In the same way that I have opposed the hijacking of the system of public funding of politics for the purpose of securing the laudable objective of increasing the number of women in politics, I do not think the parliament and the business of elections should be skewed around such issues. Neither should trusts be in the business of directly funding political parties or individuals. If the job of those trusts is to create public awareness about the causes and to encourage their subscribing members, qua individual supporters, to fund politicians parties, that is much cleaner and much healthier.