Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The present law relating to election expenditure and donations in Ireland was established in the Electoral Act 1997 and has since been amended on five occasions by means of the Electoral (Amendment) Acts 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. Under current provisions, political parties are allowed to accept a maximum aggregated donation of €6,348 from a single source in any given calendar year, while the limit for an individual public representative is €2,539. I am conscious that the current donation limits were set in 2001 and that over time inflation has eroded their value. There is, incidentally, scope to increase these limits by way of ministerial order having regard to changes in the consumer price index over the relevant period.

Having said that, I am of the view that expensive electoral campaigns do not necessarily add to the electoral or democratic process.

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