John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

It might be an idea. Deputy Shatter's contribution today was like a Second Stage speech, something at variance with what his Fine Gael colleague gave yesterday, who welcomed the Bill. Deputy Shatter seems to have a principled objection, and he claims that the Fine Gael Party has adopted his position. That is interesting, because Fine Gael abstained on the last vote and on the Labour Party amendment, which seems to be following his line.

I told Deputy Ciarán Lynch that I agreed in principle with what he was saying, and that we will introduce those limits. However, the Fine Gael Party is telling us this morning that it objects in principle to imposing them. I understand Deputy Shatter perfectly well. He has made himself very clear. He stated that candidates ought to be able to spend as much money to get their message across. In other words, he is saying that we should have the best democracy that money can buy.

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