Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to proclaim in this Chamber and in the Upper House - I read the transcripts of the debate which took place there - that this is a new form of open government and that it involves transparency and accountability in public life is nonsense. We in this House have a responsibility to point that out.

Deputies Donnelly, Naughten, Mathews and others referred to the funding parties receive per Member. Of the 75 Fine Gael Deputies elected to the Dáil in 2011, six have been expelled from the party. The Exchequer funding relating to these Deputies, of whom I am one, is more than €300,000. This money has been allocated to the party in my name and those of my colleagues. We are no longer members of the parliamentary party because we have been expelled and some of us are no longer members of the party at all. Of the 38 Labour Party Deputies elected to the Dáil in the 2011 general election, four have left the parliamentary party. The Exchequer funding relating to these individuals is €284,000 and it has been allocated to the Labour Party in respect of them despite the fact that they are no longer members.

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