Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Why not fix the situation in which party leaders continue to be paid handsomely for TDs who have either left or been kicked out of their parties?

The leader's allowance is a problem, and this Bill goes some way towards fixing it, but it is far from the only problem. The truth is that political funding in Ireland is funding for the parties, by the parties and because of the parties.

Let us look at the numbers. There are three sources of political funding in Irish politics: Exchequer funding, the leader's allowance, and additional party staff. The total funding for all parties and politicians after this Bill is passed will be almost €16 million per annum. This funding breaks down as follows: Fine Gael will get 34%, or €5.4 million; Fianna Fáil will get 23%, or €3.5 million; the Labour Party will get 22%, or €3.4 million; Sinn Féin will get 13%, or €2.1 million; and Independents and non-party TDs, who are far greater in number than either Fianna Fáil or Sinn Féin, will get €855,000.

Once this Bill is passed, the average funding per TD will be €84,000 per year. Each Independent TD will get €37,000, or approximately half the average, while €65,000 will be provided for each Fine Gael TD, €80,000 will be provided for each Labour Party TD, €140,000 will be provided for each Sinn Féin TD, and Deputy Martin will get €166,000 for each Fianna Fáil TD. In spite of all the talk about the Independents' and leader's allowance, the reality is that public funding for Independent Deputies is a small fraction of that for party TDs. Even though the Tánaiste and Taoiseach have the full resources of the Government and the public sector at their disposal, the Taoiseach will get three quarters more per Fine Gael TD than Independent TDs get and the Tánaiste will get, per TD, over twice what Independent TDs get.

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