Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

l welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue of corporate donations in the House. The issue of funding political parties has been debated over many decades. In Ireland, we have always favoured political parties doing their own fundraising and we have the declarable amounts for which we are all obliged to account to the Standards in Public Office Commission. These regulations are important and most of them were implemented by the Fianna Fáil Party in government. This will never be acknowledged by the parties in the current Government.

I believe in politics. Politics is important to a functioning democracy and is something that this House should protect and seek to enhance. All Members believe that we can do without the smears and innuendo that result from corporate donations to political parties. This was even mentioned in the infamous Fine Gael Party five point plan during the recent general election. The Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party made many promises before the election in February and we have seen how they have cynically played out over the past nine months.

Over 20,000 students demonstrated on Wednesday about a brazen pledge - one of many - to reverse the registration fee. The Labour Party cheated the students. They knew they would not be reducing the fee as the Minister for Education and Skills and the Tánaiste were both well aware of the economic circumstances in which Ireland finds itself. It was an empty cynical pre-election promise.

The Fine Gael and Labour parties promised in the programme for Government "to introduce the necessary legal and constitutional provisions to ban corporate donations to political parties". If today's Bill is voted through, it will allow us to do that. The Government voted against our legislative proposals last April on political donations. Is it the case that the Fine Gael Party and the Labour Party have become so arrogant that they will not take any constructive proposals from this side of the House? They should keep their promise and accept this Bill.

There are many members of all parties who sacrifice their time organising draws, golf classics and church collections as part of their political activity. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this practice. Elections are an expensive business as everyone in this House knows. What is unfair is the perception that all fundraising for political parties is wrong or that people only donate because there is something in it for them. This is a very cynical view of political activity and it is nearly always applied to people in my own party.

It was a rare occasion indeed over the years when we heard people discussing the rights and wrongs of a percentage of trade union subscriptions automatically going to the Labour Party or how the Fine Gael Party went about its fundraising. We all know that the Fianna Fáil Party had a tent in Galway and the Fine Gael Party had a tent in Punchestown, not to mention a recent under-reported fundraising event in the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood, London - attended by the Taoiseach - and other fundraising arenas at home and abroad. To be fair, no one can accuse the Fine Gael Party of robbing a bank. I find it rich to listen to Sinn Féin Members speaking about the Fianna Fáil DNA and Fianna Fáil Party fundraising activities. It was the Sinn Féin policy of the balaclava, the boot boy, the sawn-off shotgun and the army fatigue that spilled the DNA of a garda in my constituency in Adare, County Limerick.

The Fianna Fáil Party is committed to banning corporate donations and this commitment was in our last programme for Government. We tried to introduce legislation in April but it was rejected by the current Government. Our Bill would have effectively introduced a ban on the receipt of direct donations to political parties from businesses and corporations, including trade unions. It was hoped that the Bill would bring more openness and transparency to how all political parties are funded. Perhaps it was too soon after the Moriarty tribunal was published and the Government did not want to support the Bill in case the timing was not right.

Notwithstanding the rejection of our Bill in April, I firmly believe that huge damage has been done to the public perception of politics due to the allegations of improper payments from business to politicians of all parties that have flowed from the Moriarty and Flood tribunals over the past 20 years. Our proposals in April would also have legislated for how non-party independent candidates were funded. This is also important as this Dáil has the highest number of independent candidates in the history of the State.

If we, as elected representatives of the people, want to ensure that there is no misinterpretation of donations, there should be an outright ban on corporate donations. This referendum Bill is clear and unambiguous. We should all want public confidence in the operation of the political system. Elections should only be funded by people entitled to vote in them. Accepting this Bill will dramatically increase levels of transparency in political funding and expenditure in Ireland.

If Fine Gael Party and Labour Party Members claim they are against corporate donations but vote against this Bill, that would be yet another cynical act of hypocrisy. As recently as 11 April, the Taoiseach told Midwest Radio that banning corporate donations is a priority for the Government. This Bill will specifically test that commitment. It gives everyone the opportunity to deliver on their election promises and to walk the walk on the issue of banning corporate donations.

It is an absolute disgrace that we are here for a Friday sitting when we hear of events in the German Parliament on Irish budgetary matters, yet there is only one member of the Government and one Minister of State. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and all other members of the Government are not here, with one exception. It is a disgrace that Dáil Éireann is sitting on a Friday and we do not have the wherewithal to discuss this issue. Irish budgetary matters are being discussed in a foreign parliament yet are not being discussed in this Parliament. It reflects badly on the Government that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are not here, having created this charade of a Friday sitting, when all we are allowed to do is debate Second Stage of a Bill. We cannot have any direct questions to Ministers or get to the bottom of how these documents appeared in the German Parliament and not here first.

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