Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to think of the word to sum up what has happened over the past few minutes. The word "performative", used by Deputy Nash is exactly it. We have had every slur one could possibly put in a contribution, such as stroke and backhanded, and attempts to talk about illegal donations. Hyperbole has been used in the Chamber. Let me speak to the amendment.

The amendment allows political parties to hold raffles and draws to raise funds. That is what it does. There are different ways. Deputy Ó Broin said that I might defend the Minister's honour. I am not defending his honour. I am defending the ability for us to have an open and transparent political system in which citizens can engage.

There are different ways one might fund political parties. As Deputy Nash said, having special sectoral interests do that is accepted as wrong.

We know that corporate donations are incorrect. We have long since moved on in that regard and there is now only a small limit of €101 for corporate donations.

How do we fund political activity? Politics is not some dirty activity. It is what we do in this House and how we are elected to this House. It is how we represent the constituents who elect us. Political activity should be funded in some way. There is significant State support for political parties, depending on representation, for Independents, party leaders and different political parties. It is lower for those in government than the Opposition. We were the beneficiaries of that when we were in opposition.

The other way of funding political parties is by means of a sizable number of small donations coming from across the country, whether it is €10 or €50, with people making a donation to a political party that contributes to what they believe in. That is not a super political action committee - super PAC - dirty or a stroke. It is people making a small contribution to their ideas being progressed in this House. That is what this amendment does. It allows political parties to hold a draw or raffle, with small amounts of money being paid for tickets. All of the amounts submitted are subject to the other limits, including personal and corporate limits, that are in place. We have had significant reform, progressed by Deputy Nash's party and many others, in the area of political activity. Let us not pretend to the public that dirty, illegal money is washing around this Chamber; it is not. Deputies are doing a disservice to all of us here if they are pretending that is the case for a 30-second Facebook clip.

This Bill contains significant changes relating to foreign donations. Perhaps the restrictions that we put in place on foreign donations sting, because some parties take donations above individual limits and above the limits from corporate entities. Sinn Féin does that at the moment. It takes corporate donations above the limits allowed in Ireland and individual donations above the allowed limits, which Deputies Nash, Cian O'Callaghan, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and I are subject to. We do not take sizable corporate or individual donations. Sinn Féin does. That is perfectly legal because it is done in another jurisdiction. Partition obviously suits on some occasions. It should not pretend that it is not doing it. Sinn Féin takes corporate and individuals donations above the limit that we are allowed in the Republic.

The Greens are not whipping boys for anybody. The Minister is well able to say whatever he believes, and has long experience in politics. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party are proposing that political parties will be able to hold prize draws. Is the Opposition really saying that it is against raffles? Are Deputies saying that they are against my mother and father each putting €50 into a Fianna Fáil raffle? We are from an area which does not have many people who go into politics. Somebody from that area might be able to benefit from the resources a political party has to be elected to represent those people. Sinn Féin is trying to stop individuals from buying tickets for raffles. That is not actually what it is doing, though. It is distracting from what it does as a party and it is trying to label all of us as dirty, stroke-ridden and so on. I cannot put up with that. I cannot let people say that about my party now, because my party does not have that kind of activity or money. The vast majority of parties in this Chamber do not have it. We should not pretend to the public, for the sake of a 30-second clip, that Irish politics is awash with dirty money, because it is not, and we know it is not.

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