Dáil debates

Thursday, 12 March 2009

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2009: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

1:00 pm

Photo of John GormleyJohn Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I fully understand the intent of the amendment which I have discussed with my officials. We have looked at examples, including the Kilkenny People. The Deputy mentioned Tuesday afternoon, but the newspaper comes out on Wednesday, and Friday is the date referred to on the masthead. Those are difficult matters. I understand what the Deputy is trying to get at in the same way as I understood what he was trying to get at concerning the Internet. We will seek guidelines for candidates on those issues.

The Deputy is seeking to provide a more prescriptive interpretation of expenses on advertising for electoral purposes. The Bill also includes provision for the Minister to bring forward further regulations in this area. Having looked at it, I do not believe the Schedule, dating from the 1999 Act, needs to be amended in this way, but I will consider the matter further. At the moment I cannot accept the amendment. The Deputy has suggested examining this matter further in the Seanad at a later date.

I wished to clarify the situation on what are considered as election expenses for the purpose of making a spending declaration at a local election. I will not go through that matter again, however, because we dealt with it on the previous amendment. One of the effects of the Deputy's amendment would be to create a significant difference in the definition of election expenses for local elections compared to those for Dáil and other national elections. We need to get that consistency. The provisions of the 1999 Act, as amended by this Bill, are sufficient to provide for the declaration of spending on advertising for electoral purposes during the election. They do not need to be elaborated upon further in the manner set out in the amendment. We will, however, provide guidance for individuals which, in many ways, is common sense. We can examine this to see if the date on a newspaper's masthead is the relevant one or not.

There is also the question of defining the difference between daily newspapers, which are used for one day, and weekly newspapers or magazines which may be in circulation longer. These questions are relevant. If a weekly publication is part of the 60-day period, obviously it will have to be taken into account and will be part of the expenditure. This is not and, given the nature of what we are discussing, can never be an exact science. Deputy Howlin referred to having discussed the matter as a Minister in previous Administrations. We are trying to do our best to ensure that certain limits apply. We will provide the guidelines and will examine the issue in more detail. At the moment, however, I am satisfied that what we have put in place is in line with our requirements.

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