Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

Fine Gael promised to cut the number of Deputies by 20, which was a populist and high profile approach before the election. It also promised to abolish the Seanad, a question which remains unanswered. It sought to reduce the number of Ministers of State and has not done so. It promised there would be no more bank recapitalisation, that it would burn the bondholders, that there would be no more increases in taxation and that the Minister would be responsible for bringing in a suite of backdoor taxes on the population.

We discuss hospitals here every day of the week. We can now see the effects of what the Government is doing to hospital services around the country. It has the wherewithal to address the issue financially. It has introduced measures in the House such as the pension levy to raise more money and has made political decisions and decided on political priorities such as funding the removal of the air travel tax rather than keeping accident and emergency departments open. It is yet another U-turn.

It stated it would reduce the number of Deputies by 20, which I do not agree with and on which it is now reneging. The Bill is ill thought out. When it was published it immediately offended the Constitution. The Bill gives the constituency commission a band of 152 to 160. The Government has acknowledged that it jumped the gun on the census figures. Where did it get the band from? What rationale and logic was applied in arriving at those numbers? It is fundamentally undemocratic and will dilute democracy.

The Government is equating the number of Members by adding the number of Deputies and Senators and coming up with a Member to population ratio which does not reflect the current situation. It is reducing the number of Deputies which is fundamentally undemocratic. Our party's proposal during the general election was to discuss a total reform package. A piecemeal approach, as the Minister acknowledged, is not the way to address the issue. If we are serious, we should have a complete debate on reform in the House on the Dáil, Seanad, committee system and local government. Let us debate the whole package and not have a piecemeal approach.

We proposed a single-seat constituency arrangement, supplemented by a list system which allowed for gender balance. We also proposed an idea whereby if a member of the Dáil was asked to serve in Government, an alternate would be placed to do his or her work as a Deputy in order that he or she would not be double-jobbing as both a member of Government and constituency Deputy. I want to put the Minister on notice that we will table a number of amendments, one of which concerns the number of Deputies indicated in the banding. It is worthwhile to note that the Labour Party has been silent on this issue. In the pre-election period it rubbished the idea of cutting the number of Deputies. There is one Labour Party Deputy in the House who may contribute to the debate. It was on the record in terms of keeping the number of Deputies and democracy.

It is correct to focus on spending limits for Presidential elections. There will be a presidential election in a number of months. The current limit of €1.5 million until the Bill changes it is quite high because, due to the nature of the contest, candidates enjoy a significant amount of what could be termed free media, exposure and publicity. The spending limits are quite high and it is correct to reduce them but we should go further. A sum of €750,000 is a lot to spend on an individual campaign, given the amount of free media and exposure that is enjoyed by candidates. From that point of view, the limit should be closer to €500,000. I know that will not suit political parties, but it will suit the Independents.

I would be interested to know whether the Minister intends to introduce his legislation to reduce corporate donations and the amount that people can contribute to political parties.

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