John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I thank Deputy Flanagan and his colleagues, Deputies Hogan and Bannon, for bringing forward this amendment. It may be beneficial for me to outline in greater detail the intention behind the provision contained in section 4, which deals with the allocation of a portion of the candidate's spending limit for the use of the national agent or political party.

As is the case with Dáil and other election codes, the spending limits for local elections will apply to individual candidates in the first instance. However, unlike the spending limits that operate for other electoral codes, candidates nominated by a political party will be deemed to automatically allocate 10% of their spending limits for use by the party's national agent at a national level. For example, a party candidate with a limit of €7,500 would be deemed to automatically allocate €750 for use by his or her party. There is provision, however, to allow this figure to be varied upwards or downwards by written agreement between a candidate and the national agent of his or her political party. The maximum the national agent of the party can spend will be the sum of the amounts allocated by the individual candidates. This can be spent nationally or within an electoral area. The national agent can also authorise a designated person locally to incur a portion of the expenditure that has been allocated to him or her.

Under the current arrangements for Dáil elections, when candidates allocate a portion of their limit for use by the national agent of their party, this must be done in writing. Given the number of candidates involved in the local elections, this approach would create significant administrative difficulties. It would be unwieldy to the point of being inoperable. A position will, therefore, apply whereby 10% of the candidate's limit will be deemed to be allocated for use by the national agent. This will allow sufficient latitude for political parties to fund their election campaigns at local elections. There is also the option to vary the amount but this would have to be done in writing. It is envisaged that the written agreements would follow a similar form to those used for general elections when a candidate or his or her agent can apportion part of the spending limit to the national agent of his or her party.

The wording of the Bill, as it stands, achieves the objectives I have set out and has been approved by the Parliamentary Counsel. I do not propose to accept the amendment.

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