Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I had not intended to contribute to this debate and will not speak about the principles of the Bill but I wish to raise one issue. I recall negotiating these issues with both Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael many years ago in the context of Dáil, European and presidential elections. Provision was made at the time by the rainbow Government for spending limits in local elections as well.

The subsequent Minister for the Environment and Local Government, however, had a different view and successive Fianna Fáil-led Governments have watered down those provisions. I hope, however, that we are now turning the corner and putting in place a realistic basis for equality when contesting elections, where the amount of money a candidate can spend will not be a determining factor.

There will always be anomalies, it is not possible to craft a perfect Bill. Section 4 is the heart of the Bill and it is hard to determine the basis for a figure. I am concerned that it would be a percentage of a Dáil spend. How would that be relevant? The Minister might reflect on these specific figures before the Bill goes before the Seanad.

The Minister has allocated figures for the spend at the lowest of level, borough councils, of €7,500. Borough councils operate differently; Wexford Borough Council is a single electoral area with a population of 20,000 whereas most borough councils would have wards of perhaps 4,000. The notion that we apply the same spend to reach 20,000 people as 4,000 is invidious.

I ask the Minister to re-examine this because the crafting of the section displays an understanding that all borough councils operate on a ward system but there are others that operate on an integrated basis where there are 12 seats to be filled from the entire borough and, thanks to the Minister's own extension of this particular borough last year, it is now a significant area with in excess of 20,000 residents. An election spend of €7,500 in that context would not be fair.

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