Dr. Elaine Byrne:

I think it is important for the public to know that money for election purposes is very different from money outside them such that the money political parties receive from the Exchequer cannot be used for campaigning. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of that ever occurring. Political parties, for their referendums and election campaigns, must raise the money from political donations. Political parties do not set the rules for where their constituency boundaries should be. When the national coalition did this in the 1970s, disaster followed and a new system was introduced. On the same principle, why should political parties decide how political parties are funded? It does not make sense. It would allow for new entrants to political life to have an alternative income source.