Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Richmond for raising this question. I hope my answer addresses the question the Deputy has asked. I am here to represent the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien.

As Members of the House will be aware, the Electoral Act 1997, as amended, provides the statutory framework for dealing with political donations and sets out the regulatory regime covering a wide range of interrelated issues such as the setting of limits of permissible donations, the prohibition of certain donations, the disclosure of donations and the registration of third parties who accept donations given for political purpose that exceed €100.

The Act also provides for the independent supervision of these provisions by the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, which has published a number of detailed guidance documents to clearly inform candidates standing for election, Members of the Oireachtas, members of the European Parliament, political parties, corporate donors and third parties of their obligations under the Act. At its very core, the Act has the objective of ensuring that there is transparency in how our political parties and the wider political system is funded, matters that are crucial to the functioning of our democracy. Important features of the legislation include relatively low donation thresholds, a prohibition on foreign donations and restrictions on the amounts that may be received from corporate donations.

Notwithstanding the existing legislative provision, the Government is committed to progress the commitment in the programme for Government to review our current electoral laws and the conduct of politics in Ireland to ensure that donations or resources from non-citizens outside the State are not being utilised to influence our elections and political process. We will legislate to prevent this if necessary. These matters are directly relevant to the political donations regime as provided for in the Act. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has stated in this House that he intends to bring forward an electoral reform Bill that will, among other matters, establish an independent statutory electoral commission by the end of this year. The general scheme of the Bill was published last week and was circulated for pre-legislative consideration. One of the functions that will be assigned to the electoral commission from the outset will be a policy research and advisory function that will inform and advise the Government and the Oireachtas in their consideration of reform of our electoral laws. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is of the view that one of the first items of research the commission could be asked to undertake would be a comprehensive review of the entire Electoral Act 1997. It is likely that such a review could be completed within a relatively short timeframe following the establishment of the commission.

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