Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, was challenged on this, he said there were important principles involved. He suggested some Members missed the point because this funding, designed to support parliamentary activity, should reflect the wishes of the electorate. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly that it should reflect the wishes of the electorate. Some of us, however, are now Independent Members, ex-party Members, because of our determination to reflect the wishes of our electorate.

In my own case, part of the reason people voted Labour in the last general election, was because the Labour Party at that point stood for the allocation of resources on the basis of need. When this principle was completely disregarded and trampled upon in the Department of Health, to be fair to the people who elected me, I believed I had no choice to resign from my ministerial position and, indeed, from the Labour Party. I was very much reflecting the views of the electorate. Other Members who find themselves in a similar situation would argue the same point where they stood by commitments given by their erstwhile parties but now find themselves excommunicated, unable to play a full role in this House. That is fundamentally undemocratic and unfair. It is wrong and the Minister knows that is the case.

Even if one were to go along with the Minister’s argument about the principle, it can be thrown by the wayside because of some of the principles of the new provisions in this Bill. For example, if Members of a party that was dissolved form a new party, the funding of the dissolved party can be restored to the new entity. Accordingly, there is a recognition that the status of Members can change during a Dáil. Deputy Donnelly provided some interesting figures during his contribution. He made the point that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, through the leader's allowance, are in receipt of approximately €80,000 per annum for each one of the Members who had left or had been expelled from their parliamentary parties. There is no basis for those public moneys continuing to go to those party leaders. I call on the party leaders to return that money to the Exchequer.

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