Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regarding Members leaving a party and the allowance remaining with the party, I understand what the Minister said regarding the snapshot, the fact that the people spoke and that is how it should be reflected in the Parliament. However, this section we are dealing with in this legislation does not fully back up what the Minister has just said. At the bottom of page 5 of the legislation, subsection (12) refers to the same topic and says if the members of a party elected to Dáil Éireann decide to dissolve their party and join another party, their entire allowance can transfer to a party to which they were not elected. For the last half an hour the Minister has been telling us the snapshot of the general election holds unless the people are consulted in a subsequent by-election or whatever. I will be polite: it does not stand up at all based on the section we are discussing.