Margaret Cox (Independent)

The Minister will remember from our discussions yesterday that while I welcome the legislation, it is sad there is a need for us to put this type of framework in place in an effort to rebuild confidence in politicians. As I said yesterday — the Minister disagreed with my view — in the past ten years in which I have been involved in national politics, I have seen a change in the attitude of people towards politicians. People will say the public does not believe all politicians are corrupt because they re-elect them. However, nobody actually believes individual politicians are corrupt but believe that, as a group, they are. There is an onus on us as politicians when creating the framework against which we will measure ourselves that we create one which is measurable and which meets the standards of normal people.

Terms and conditions for politicians have improved significantly over the past ten years and with that people's attitudes have changed. There is an onus on us to create legislation which stipulates thresholds which people accept are feasible.

The Minister said that if he had been more aware of the thresholds in regard to the fundraiser about which he spoke, he could easily have escaped the need to make a declaration. I received a cheque from somebody during the general election but I returned it. It was for an odd amount. It was obvious that a similar cheque was being sent to every candidate for an amount that was just under the threshold. That is what people do.

The threshold is being increased to €2,000 but I believe that is too high. The majority of people would consider a threshold of €650 fair. I am not suggesting the Minister or any officeholder or Member of the Oireachtas would do a favour simply because they received €1,999 or €2,000. That is not the issue. The issue is to have a threshold which most people would consider fair. The Minister is correct that people do not constantly give officeholders gifts. Nobody will come up to me on the street in Galway and offer me a gift. That does not happen in politics and, as that is the case, we should keep the thresholds low. In circumstances where a gift is given, the person can make their declaration to the commission and have the matter recorded and dealt with transparently. If the office believes there is no need for the gift to be declared, it is not declared. That is a matter for the office.

Yesterday, the Minister said it was important to find a balance. He said the €2,000 threshold will apply to benefits from the same friend in the period covered by the interests statement, typically a calendar year. He also said the amount of money must be big enough so that officeholders and Members do not have to spend their time counting every ordinary gift they receive from their friends and also to avoid the Standards in Public Office Commission having to deal with applications about relatively minor gifts. He described €2,000 as a fair compromise. Given that Members do not continually receive gifts, how often is this expected to happen and how often will the commission have to deal with an item worth more than €650? It does not occur often. For that reason there is no justification for increasing the threshold to €2,000. The current threshold of €650 is low but if somebody wishes to abuse it, they will not use this legislation anyway. My fear is that somebody could receive €2,000 each from a number of individuals and it will become a way of avoiding declarations.

That is the reason I oppose this section. There are no grounds for increasing the value of the threshold to €2,000. I am aware it is a new threshold but its level should be €650.