Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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Question 3: To ask the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will amend his proposal, regarding the halving of State funding to parties which do not have 30% female candidates for the next general election in order that the same principle applies to the next local elections as well; if he will increase the target to 40% for both local and general elections and if he will make a statement on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15919/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The programme for Government contains a commitment that: "Public funding for political parties will be tied to the level of participation by women as candidates those parties achieve."

On 8 June 2011, I published the general scheme of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011. The general scheme includes provision for a requirement that to qualify for full State funding under Part 3 of the Electoral Act 1997 a qualified political party will have to have at least 30% women candidates and at least 30% men candidates at the next general election. This is to rise to 40% after seven years. Half of every payment to a qualified political party is to be made contingent on meeting those requirements.

The relevant Heads of the Bill to provide for these new arrangements are set out in Part 5 of the general scheme, as published. The approach provided for in the scheme is both practical and sound and I intend to proceed in this manner.

Payments made to qualified political parties under Part 3 of the Electoral Act 1997 are linked to performance at a general election and these new requirements will therefore apply in respect of candidates of political parties at a general election. It is also my intention that the measures would have a knock-on effect by providing an incentive to political parties voluntarily to apply similar arrangements at local elections.

The new legislative provisions are being designed as an incentive mechanism to encourage political parties to apply a more equal gender balance in the selection of candidates that are put forward at a Dáil general election. They are a proportionate response to address a significant problem of public concern within Ireland's democratic system.

At the general election held in February 2011, 86 of the 566 candidates who sought election were women, representing 15.19% of the total. Of the 166 members of Dáil Éireann returned after the election, 25 were women, representing 15.06% of the total. The proportion of men to women in the population of Ireland is approximately 50-50, yet this has never been reflected in Dáil representation. This modest proposal will give political parties an opportunity to have greater representation by women in the Dáil and to ensure greater representation by women on the slate of candidates.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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As I have told the Minister previously, I strongly commend what he is doing. There is a real opportunity here to achieve far more meaningful reform, both at local and national level. A 30% change would simply require Fine Gael to field another 13 female candidates and the Labour Party to field another five female candidates. There are 2.25 million women living in Ireland and 42% of the Minister's party membership is composed of women. Given the relatively modest changes that would be required to move quickly to 40%, which would result in a fantastic change, is it not a reasonable thing to do now?

Second, if we accept the logic the Minister has used for the changes at national level, the same logic should apply to local government. It would also make it easier for female candidates at national level. I am new to politics but it is abundantly clear that sitting councillors and Deputies have a huge advantage over others when running for election. Would it not make more sense both in principle, for the same reason the Minister is applying it nationally, and in practice, to achieve greater female representation, to have it enforced at local level as well as national level?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I have great sympathy with the question and the tone of Deputy Donnelly's remarks. I consider this to be a staging post towards achieving his objective. However, there is a conservative culture in the manner in which these matters can be addressed not only by men, but also by women. There is a balance to be struck between increasing the participation rate of women in politics, and people of either gender wishing to be in politics on merit. There is nothing to stop a person from standing as a candidate in an election for any political party or to stop political parties opting for a 50:50 ratio, if they wish. I am setting a floor in legislative form to ensure that at least 30% of both genders will be considered by political parties. It does not apply to independents at present.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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As I said, I welcome this. As regards the conservative measure, I ask the Minister and his officials to consider that the margin required to move from 30% to 40%, which is the Council of Europe's recommended percentage and ultimately the figure the Minister intends to reach, would require Fine Gael and the Labour Party finding an additional 24 and 12 female candidates, respectively. In the context of there being 2.25 million women in Ireland, it should not be beyond the abilities of the parties.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will appreciate that this is the first time a Minister has brought forward this proposal. This is the first Government to bring forward a meaningful proposal to increase the participation rate of women and to give them the opportunity to be candidates in a general election. The funding is linked to general elections. If it was linked to local elections, I would be able to apply it down the line. Perhaps that will happen in the future. However, I accept the Deputy's sentiments. I have no difficulty with the spirit and principle of the question, but I am linking this to general elections, in the first instance, and asking political parties to have due regard to it in the local elections.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will take the necessary legal and Constitutional steps, as promised in the Programme for Government, to bring about a complete ban on corporate donations. [15861/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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On 8 June 2011, I published the general scheme of the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011. In line with the Government's commitment to significantly reform political funding in Ireland, this Bill will implement commitments in the programme for Government and recommendations made in the Moriarty Tribunal Report Into Payments to Politicians and Related Matters .

The Bill provides, inter alia, for a ban on the acceptance of donations over €200 from all sources, other than from individuals, by political parties and their accounting units, candidates, Oireachtas Members, Members of the European Parliament, local authority members and third parties, as defined in the Electoral Acts, unless the body has registered with the Standards in Public Office Commission and has furnished, in writing, the name and address of the person or persons responsible for the organisation, management or financial affairs of the body; a statement of the nature and purpose of the body; a list of the membership or shareholders of the body; a copy of its statement of accounts for that year; a copy of the annual report to its members - it will not be inclined to do that; and the donor has declared to the recipient that the donation has been authorised by a general meeting of the members of the body concerned.

Fianna Fáil, in introducing its Electoral (Amendment) (Political Donations) Bill 2011 in Private Members' time in the Dáil on 10 May 2011, acknowledged legal advice it had received to the effect that an outright ban on corporate donations would be likely to be unconstitutional. The Government's approach also recognises this position and, therefore, provides for significant restrictions on corporate donations. This approach will achieve the objective immediately of addressing the widespread concern that the large-scale corporate funding of politics is unhealthy for democracy. The general scheme I recently published also contains a number of other measures that are wide ranging and radical in their scope to reform political funding arrangements.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister acknowledged what was in our Bill, which was voted down by the Government. During the general election campaign the Minister's party put great emphasis on the concept of banning corporate donations completely. He has now resiled from that position, despite it being an election promise and a commitment in the programme for Government. People worry that while the Government has published its Bill to deal with this matter, nothing has changed. The Bill has not been enacted so fundraising continues under the old regime and can continue until the Bill is enacted. When will the Bill be taken in the House and enacted?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Private Members' Bill brought forward by Fianna Fáil would not have included all corporate bodies. There were loopholes to allow certain corporate bodies to continue to give donations without being subject to the new restrictions. There were flaws in the Bill. We got advice from the Attorney General on the constitutionality of corporate donations. We wished to proceed immediately to restrict corporate donations and if there was any doubt about the constitutionality of what we intended to do, the Government decided to examine it in the context of the constitutional convention which will be established shortly. That convention will report in a year and there will be an opportunity to put that forward in the context of constitutional change in 2012. However, we are proceeding immediately with the legal advice we received from the Attorney General. What we are trying to do is welcomed by Fianna Fáil and I am delighted the party has been converted to this policy.

Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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My point is that in the general election campaign the Minister's party led the public to believe that it would ban corporate donations, and the public voted for the party on that basis, although the party knew it could not do it. The Minister is now hiding behind the legal advice. However, he has not answered my question. When will the legislation be dealt with in the House? Fundraising by all political parties is taking place now and every week under the old regime. We all agree with the spirit of the Bill but when will it be enacted?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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It will probably be the most speedy implementation ever of a proposal in a programme for Government. It will be published in July and enacted before the end of the year.