Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)

With the permission of the House, I will share time with Deputies Jerry Buttimer, Dara Murphy, Liam Twomey and Michael McCarthy.

I oppose the Private Members' Bill introduced by Fianna Fáil. Notwithstanding having introduced the Bill, there is not a single Fianna Fáil Deputy in the House to debate its merits. That speaks volumes for Fianna Fáil's commitment to amending legislation on elections or corporate donations. The absence of a single Green Party Deputy in the Dáil also speaks volumes for Fianna Fáil's stated commitment to banning corporate donations or amending the legislation on corporate donations in the House.

As the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Willie Penrose, pointed out when speaking on the Bill, three separate positions have been adopted by Fianna Fáil on this issue since the beginning of the year. One position was taken when in Government, another during the general election, and the position has been modified in the Bill which Fianna Fáil do not see fit to come and debate with the Government and the Deputies who support it.

While each change of policy has been an advance on the previous position, and we welcome that, the Fianna Fáil Party has also adopted a number of different positions on the very important issue of the creation of an independent electoral commission. That was a recommendation of the mission of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, to Ireland in 2007, as the leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Micheál Martin, would be aware and might care to debate with us if he were in the House. The chairmanship of the OSCE is of some import. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will assume that chairmanship in 2012. In advance of that, it is essential that an independent election commission be created. In the report on its mission to Ireland, dated 24 May 2007, the OSCE stated that the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, had publicly made such a recommendation. The task force on active citizenship sponsored by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, also made this recommendation in its report, released in April 2007. In the OSCE report of 25 February 2011, however, the best that could be said was that the creation of an independent electoral commission, consolidating responsibilities for the conduct of elections, voter registration and campaign financing into one body, had been on the work plan of the previous Government but was not addressed before its collapse.

Fianna Fáil now purports to address this issue. I say, however, and would say to Fianna Fáil Deputies if there were a single one present in the Dáil, that it is too little too late. The Government has a much more ambitious programme for the reform of political funding arrangements which is already in the process of being implemented. The Government's open Government legislation will also establish an electoral commission to subsume the functions of existing bodies and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

The Bill, which Fianna Fáil Members do not see fit to come to the House to debate, has some good and welcome proposals. In many respects, however, it is too limited and narrowly focused. It contains a number of flaws that would make its intended provisions unworkable. While the placing of restrictions on corporate donations from companies, trade unions, societies and building societies is provided for, a number of other corporate structures have not been included, as the Minister of State, Deputy Penrose, pointed out. No provision is made for donations by partnerships, unincorporated bodies, trusts, sole traders or non-governmental organisations. The Bill, as it stands, would allow a number of corporate-type bodies to continue to give political donations while restricting others. In its present form, the Bill would not work in practice as it does not address all donors who are not individuals.

The provisions in the Bill represent a change from what was proposed by Fianna Fáil at the general election, with greater reductions now being advocated. Perhaps, the Fianna Fáil Deputies do not agree with the said reductions as they are not here to support their own Bill.

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