Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

For the purposes of clarity, section 3 increases from €650 to €2,000 the monetary threshold at which a gift given to an officeholder by virtue of his or her office is deemed to be a gift to the State. We are not talking about ordinary members but officeholders and increasing the threshold from €650 to €2,000 for gifts given to an officeholder by virtue of his or her office to be deemed to be gifts to the State.

That is what we are discussing. That argument would not hold on the wider issue Senator Cox was discussing because the money is not being used for personal purposes but for political purposes, in which case it would be regarded as a donation. The purpose to which a person puts the money given determines whether it is regarded as a donation. To use the Senator's example, if she received €1,999 for personal purposes and she subsequently used it for political purposes, it is a donation and registerable. As a Member, she has an account to show receipts of political donations. If she were spending money outside that and not applying her expenses from that account, she would also be answerable to the commission for that.

The hypothetical case is beyond the scope of the amendment we are discussing. For us to be logical, we should go through the line of arguments as we go through the amendments. This section is about the threshold at which a gift to an officeholder by reason of holding office should be regarded as a gift to the State. Twelve years ago it was €650. I believe that €2,000 is a fair assessment of the value above which it should go to the State. It is a matter of judgment.