Fiach MacConghail (Independent)

I thank the Minister for that clarification. In my confusion, I neglected to focus on amendment No. 29 to any great extent. One of the recommendations in the Moriarty tribunal's report is that appropriate measures should be adopted to ensure the equivalent obligations will be applied to Independent or non-party candidates. To facilitate this, we have tabled amendment No. 29. The question that arises is how I, an Independent Senator nominated by the Taoiseach who is being paid a salary and receiving State funding in the form of the party leaders' allowance, can be accountable to and make my affairs transparent to both the House and the taxpayer. I wanted to make provision in this regard under section 2 but I was prevented from doing so. If amendment No. 29 is accepted, we should reconsider the position with regard to section 2 in the context of the amendment tabled by Senators van Turnhout, Mary Ann O'Brien, O'Donnell, McAleese, Zappone and me.

I am not questioning whether we should receive the party leaders' allowance. I will not be giving my allowance to charity or using it in respect of political favours. Rather, it will be used for the purposes for which it is intended under the principal Act. The latter is quite clear with regard to the uses to which the allowance can be put. In that context, I would like the allowance to be subject to scrutiny by the Standards in Public Office Commission. That would be both fair and reasonable. Independent Members of the Oireachtas are treated separately and have, in effect, been cut loose. Since February, €486,472 has been paid to Independent Deputies. Up to the end of last year, Independent Senators such as myself were paid €169,176. In total, therefore, Independent Members of the Oireachtas have been paid in excess of €656,000. That is an extraordinary amount of money and there is no transparency or accountability in respect of it. I and the other members of the group which tabled amendment No. 29 will obviously make voluntary disclosures in respect of the leaders' allowances we receive. However, there is no legislation under which we are held accountable for what we do with that money.

The Minister will be aware that the party leaders' allowance facilitates us in the context of funding our research and other work. That will continue to be the case. It is in the context of this aspect that we have tabled amendment No. 29. We are not considered to be qualified parties under the existing legislation and it is on that basis that we have tabled the amendment.