Rónán Mullen (Independent)

It seems Senator van Turnhout has done us a great service in drawing attention to the situation in other EU countries. While the Minister talks about dealing with these issues in the round, if the law of the European Union and the convention, which does not refer specifically to the Union, cannot place an obstacle to Portugal or France having such bans, it cannot be invoked as an argument in the Irish context. It is just out of the equation. It seems the Minister's argument can only rest on the Constitution and the Minister cannot cite EU law or the convention jurisprudence in any way because, were it to impact in any way on our law, by definition it would have to impact on the law of other EU states. Therefore, the only argument the Minister can possibly make is on a constitutional ground.

The Minister cited Article 40. While I do not have the Constitution to hand, I believe Article 40 relates to personal rights, not to the rights of corporates. I am even more intrigued having heard what Senator van Turnhout had to say and having heard the Minister's response. I am more sceptical now about the idea that there could be any constitutional obstacle to a ban on corporate donations.