Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 65:

In page 90, between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following:

“Amendment of section 22 of Electoral Act 1997

105.Section 22 of the Electoral Act 1997 is amended, in subsection (2)(aa), by the substitution of the following for the definition of “political purposes”:

“ ‘political purposes’ means any of the following purposes, namely—

(i) (I) to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the interests of a political party, a political group, a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament,

(II) to present, directly or indirectly, the policies or a particular policy of a political party, a political group, a member of either House of the Oireachtas, a representative in the European Parliament,

(III) to present, directly or indirectly, the comments of a political party, a political group, a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament with regard to the policy or policies of another political party, political group, a member of either House of the Oireachtas, representative in the European Parliament or candidate at an election or referendum or otherwise, or

(IV) to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the interests of a third party in connection with the conduct or management of any campaign conducted with a view to promoting or procuring a particular outcome at a Dáil, Seanad, European or local election, or referendum, such campaign relating to an election for which the polling day has been set by Government or a referendum for which the Commission has published a referendum notice,

(ii) to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the election of a candidate at a Dáil, Seanad or European election or to solicit votes for or against a candidate or to present the policies or a particular policy of a candidate or the views of a candidate on any matter connected with the election or the comments of a candidate with regard to the policy or policies of a political party or a political group or of another candidate at the election or otherwise;

(iii) otherwise to influence the outcome of the election or a referendum or campaign referred to in paragraph (i)(IV);”.”.

The role of civil society organisations in a democracy is incredibly important.

When talking about the EU and other countries in the Dáil, we often discuss how it is completely unacceptable that there has been a clampdown in some EU member states on the independence of the media, NGOs and civil society organisations. We often discuss how it is extremely important in a functioning democracy to have those key components to allow for different views to be expressed and to allow for people to campaign and engage in the public policy process. For a number of years, there has been an issue with regard to the definition of "political purpose", and how it impacts on civil society organisations. They argue that it is too wide and that it interferes with and limits the legitimate work of NGOs and civil society groups. They argue that the basic freedom of individuals and organisations in Ireland to raise funds and campaign on issues that affect them is constrained by the Electoral Act 1997 in ways that violate their constitutional rights and EU law on freedom of assembly and association. Organisations such as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, Amnesty International and others have stated that they are effectively banned from seeking funding for some of their work and can potentially be sanctioned for engaging in the public policy process. There are examples of organisations being taken to court for accepting funding, being threatened with prosecution for raising funds to engage with the public policy process and being forced to limit or end their operations in particular specific areas entirely. That is not healthy in a democracy. It is worth noting that the civil society organisations make the point that they are only seeking to have these restrictions removed regarding their day-to-day campaigning work. They are not seeking any changes with regard to the way they are governed with respect to elections or referendums. They fully support being governed on those in the same way as anyone else engaging in them. The amendment seeks to address those concerns. I am happy to hear what the Minister of State has to say on how he wants to see those concerns addressed.