Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

These amendments address the provisions in the Bill dealing with the disclosure of political donations and political funding and relate to sections 9, 18 and 26 of the Bill. Section 9 provides for a significant lowering of the thresholds at which donations must be declared and the threshold for disclosure by a political party to the Standards in Public Office Commission is being reduced from €5,078.95 to €1,500. The declaration threshold for a Member of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament or a candidate at a Dáil, Seanad or European Parliament election has been reduced from €634.87 to €600. There has also been a reduction in the threshold for donors other than companies, trade unions, societies or building societies in reporting donations to the Standards in Public Office Commission from €5078.95 to €1,500.

Section 10 deals with the donations declaration thresholds at a local election, while section 26 contains the provisions that will require the preparation and publication of political party accounts. Amendment No. 14 in the name of the Independent Senators proposes the insertion of a new section before section 9, stating all donations would have to be declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission. There is an equivalent amendment, namely, amendment No. 20, to section 18 in respect of political donations at local government level. Amendment No. 28, also in the name of the Independent Senators, proposes that there be immediate disclosure of all corporate and personal donations during an election campaign.

While I agree political donations must be declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission, in the interests of fairness and to ensure the effectiveness of such provisions, a threshold should continue to apply. I do not believe the approach proposed in the amendments is feasible. First, the proposals might be somewhat administratively impractical. For example, I cannot imagine what public good would be served by reporting the name of each person who donates €1 or €2 to an annual political party church gate collection. Similarly, the amendments as framed could be taken to include low level activities such as the selling of raffle tickets. It would not be reasonable to require that all transactions be reported to the Standards in Public Office Commission. The proposal would have serious negative consequences for the operation of politics and the smooth operation of a robust regulatory regime. The Bill provides for the publication of party accounts and in this way donations received by political parties will be open to scrutiny, as will their expenditure. I am going further than the Moriarty tribunal recommendations in this regard and consider this approach to be more effective.

Amendment No. 15, tabled by Fianna Fáil, proposes that the declaration threshold be reduced to €1,000 from €1,500. While one can pick any figure one wishes, reducing the amount by 70% constitutes a good start. The Government is doing what it stated it would do in respect of commitments it gave.