Margaret Cox (Independent)

I move amendment No. 5a:

In page 7, line 16, to delete "€2,000" and substitute "€650".

By creating a difference between thresholds it is open to individuals to avoid the legislation in place under the Electoral Acts and accept gifts which might otherwise be defined as donations. The recipient, therefore, can accept a gift of greater value than €650 up to the value of €2,000 without having to declare it if it is defined as such by the person making the gift. That person could say, "This is a gift for you. It is a dig out. It is to help you out. I understand things are tough. It is hard being in politics. It is very expensive and I want to help you out on a personal basis. I know how hard it is to run a home, look after the kids, bring them to college, buy a car and so on. It is for your personal use." Given that the Oireachtas Member can avail of the gift, he or she has more of his or her own funds available to further his or her political aims. The issue of a political donation will not arise. The Minister is as aware as I am that the reason this framework is being introduced is in the past things were done in politics of which we are not particularly proud. For that reason, a problem will be created by providing two different playing pitches. Somebody could hand me a cheque for €1,750 for my personal use because times are hard. If I had €1,750 myself to use for my political work because I did not need to use the gift for this work, should the gift not be classed as a political donation? That is my difficulty. If the threshold remained at €650, I would have to declare this gift as a political donation. I agree with the Minister this is a judgment call and a threshold of €2,000 is not too high. However, the challenge in this regard is the limit differs from those set in other Acts. People will use the excuse that such gifts are for personal use.