Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to speak about my amendment No.4, which is on the same topic. Before I get to the specifics of my amendment, which is related to the amendment we have been speaking about, I wish to agree with what the two Deputies have said. On Committee Stage, the Minister anchored most of his debate on this issue in respect of the people elected at the preceding general election. However, the Deputies have highlighted a couple of older cases where the make-up of a party changed during the Dáil term, such as the case of the Workers' Party. There are provisions for a dissolved party, as was pointed out on Committee Stage, but as the Deputies stated, if one Oireachtas Member remains in a party, it is not fully dissolved. Therefore, there are provisions in the legislation to change the arithmetic. The Deputies have also highlighted the situation where there was a change of government during a Dáil term without recourse to a general election. That would also have changed the arithmetic for the calculation of what is now called the parliamentary activities allowance.

I want to support amendment No. 2. My own amendment incorporates that and maybe goes a little bit further. The essence of the amendment tabled by Deputies Naughten, Timmins, Flanagan, Matthews and Creighton is that if a person leaves a parliamentary party, that parliamentary party should not continue to receive their allowance and it should be returned to the State. My amendment, which I had on Committee Stage and which essentially is here again, stated something similar but I felt that the money should stay with the Member. The Members here have taken a very honourable approach. They state that it is not about the money, which should be left to the State and used for some other good cause. However, the essential point of both amendments is that where Oireachtas Members leave a parliamentary party, that party should not continue to receive funds for those Members for the remaining duration of the Dáil. We are all agreed on that.

Five Deputies who have left the Fine Gael Party have their names to amendment No.2. A couple of Senators have left Fine Gael and I am not sure how many Members have left the Labour Party, although I am sure the Minister is painfully aware, but at least ten or 12 people have left Fine Gael and the Labour Party since the last election.

The amendment boils down to a very simple issue. Fine Gael and the Labour Party want to retain that €50,000 or so worth of funding for each of those ten or 12 Members, which is a minimum of €500,000, for their own funds, their own purposes, in respect of people who are not in their party.

I want people to understand what this amendment is about. We got caught up in the historical debate. I agree with all the references that have been said. This amendment is very simply about the proposal to allow Fine Gael and the Labour Party to retain over €500,000 of taxpayers' money for this calendar year in respect of Deputies who were members of their parliamentary parties but no longer have that status. That is wrong in every single respect. If the law allows it, the law is wrong. We are here to amend that. It is morally, politically, constitutionally and socially wrong. I am saying that if this amendment is accepted, it will correct that wrong. I cannot stand over the Minister's rejection of a proposal which would correct that wrong.

This is a money-grab. We will not get into the serious politics of the power-grabs by Governments and State organisations. Money is being grabbed from the Irish taxpayer by Fine Gael and the Labour Party. A minimum of €500,000 a year will be taken. We expect that there are two years left in the lifetime of this Government. Therefore, the Government parties are saying that from this day forward, they want €1 million of Irish taxpayers' money to be paid into their bank accounts in respect of Deputies who are no longer members of those parties. I believe the Minister should do the right thing by accepting the simple reality of the situation, which is that the Government's proposal is not tenable. I do not think Deputies on this side of the House can stand over this arrangement. We cannot agree to the legislation being proposed by the Government parties, which will allow over €500,000 of taxpayers' money to be paid into Fine Gael's coffers and the Labour Party's bank account, in respect of Members of Parliament who are no longer members of those parties, for each calendar year of the lifetime of this Government. I support the amendment. I hope the Deputies who have proposed it will push it to a vote.

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