Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I am sure the Senator will ensure that the students who vote for him in Seanad elections will use such donations for those very purposes.

Provision is made for the establishment of a register of corporate donors. This register will be published so that people, particularly voters, will know which corporate donors are intending to provide funds to political parties, election candidates or elected representatives. The term "corporate donor", as defined in section 5, includes all corporate and unincorporated bodies and trusts. This definition embraces companies, partnerships, trade unions, trusts, co-operatives, societies, building societies, charitable organisations, non-governmental organisations, clubs, associations and any other unincorporated bodies of persons. In other words, all bodies and organisations other than natural persons.

I have already mentioned the reductions in the value of donations that may be accepted. In addition, the threshold at which donations must be declared by a political party to the Standards in Public Office Commission will fall from €5,078.95 to €1,500. The declaration threshold for a donation received by a candidate or elected representative is being reduced from €634.87 to €600. There is provision for a reduction from €5,078.95 to €200 in the threshold at which donations must be reported by companies, trade unions, societies and building societies in their annual reports or returns. Part 2 also provides for a reduction in the threshold for donors other than companies, trade unions, societies and building societies in reporting donations to the Standards in Public Office Commission, from a figure of €5,078.95 to €1,500 for aggregate donations given in the same year. Part 3 provides for the necessary amendments to the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 to enable the new requirements on political donations which I have already outlined to apply at local elections.

Part 4, entitled "Political Parties - Disclosure of Accounts", provides for all registered political parties to prepare an annual statement of accounts and an auditor's report. These are to be submitted each year to the Standards in Public Office Commission for publication. In the event of non-compliance with these provisions, funding made available to political parties by the State under Part 3 of the Electoral Act 1997 is to be withheld. The format of the accounts will be based on guidelines prepared by the Commission, in consultation with political parties, and approved by the Minister.

Part 5 is entitled "State Funding of Political Parties and Gender Balance". The proportion of men to women in the population is approximately 50-50 but this has never been reflected in Dáil representation. At present, just over 15% of the Members of Dáil Éireann are women. The fact that this is the highest level of female representation achieved in the history of the State says something. It has taken too long to travel this short distance.

Experience shows that if we leave matters alone, the situation will not improve as quickly or as significantly as we want. We cannot continue to drift along in respect of this matter. We must take action. The provisions in Part 5 are designed to hasten our journey towards greater gender equality. Parties which do not select at least 30% women candidates at the next general election will face losing half of their State funding. This would be not just for one year but rather for the lifetime of the next Dáil. To put the potential impact of non-compliance into perspective, a total of €5.38 million was paid to five qualified political parties in 2010 under the Electoral Act 1997.

It is appropriate that the Bill is commencing its passage through the Oireachtas in the Seanad. Members of this House have played a particularly crucial role in highlighting the need for legislation to address the shortcomings in our democratic system. My party colleague, Senator Keane, has been vocal, in public and behind the scenes, in pushing for these reforms. I also acknowledge the work of Senator Bacik in the preparation of the report, Women's Participation in Politics, published in 2009 by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. The work of that committee informed the design of the legislation now before the House. I will quote directly from the summary of findings in chapter 5 of the committee's report, which concludes:

... it appears that the single most effective reform for women in Ireland would be the introduction of mandatory positive action measures through legislation requiring political parties to adopt gender targets or quotas in their candidate selection process.

If such legislation were to be adopted in Ireland, its framing would be critical. In Belgium, for example, under the Smet-Tobback law, a maximum limit is placed on candidates of each gender, i.e. parties are penalised if more than two-thirds of their candidates are of one gender. This may be a better formula than provision for a minimum number of women candidates.

A realistic sanction would also have to be imposed where political parties exceed the target prescribed, perhaps based on the French model of financial penalties.

The system set out in the Bill has regard to experience in other jurisdictions. It draws on models that have succeeded elsewhere, while having particular regard to Ireland's legal and constitutional framework.

Since details of the Bill were published in June last year, there has been a significant public debate on the gender balance provisions. Some public figures, in questioning the need for these measures, have suggested they may be unconstitutional. While I welcome the debate, I reject these views. The provisions are robust.

The provision contained in the Bill is designed as an incentive mechanism to encourage political parties to apply a more equal gender balance in the selection of candidates. It is a proportionate response to address a significant weakness in Ireland's democratic system. In contrast to those questioning the constitutionality of the provision, others have pressed for a similar measure to be put in place for local elections, the objective being to encourage more women to stand in local elections through active measures such as those set out in the Bill. I agree with the principle articulated. However, I am not in a position to apply similar gender balance measures to candidate selection at local elections.

Funding provided for political parties under the Electoral Act 1997 is linked with performance at general elections. The reduction in funding paid to political parties which do not meet the new gender balance requirements will, therefore, be linked with the candidates of political parties at general elections. There is no direct funding mechanism attached to local election candidates or political parties and groups contesting local elections. Nevertheless, while the measures will not formally apply at local elections, I expect that in practice political parties will act and some have already stated they will. At a minimum, parties preparing candidates for a general election are likely to select a more balanced ticket for local elections. There is a clear incentive for them to do so. It can be anticipated that an increase in the number of women candidates at local elections will follow as a consequence of the legislation.

On the timing of the coming into effect of the provisions, the Bill adopts both an ambitious and pragmatic approach. This is particularly so when bearing in mind the base-line from which we are starting. At the general election held in February 2011, 86 of the 566 candidates who sought election were women, representing 15.19% of the total. If the Bill is passed, the intended outcome is to effectively double this figure to 30% in one general election cycle. Provision is then made for this figure to increase to 40%, with a minimum of seven years allowed for this change to take effect.

I want to explain the rationale behind this approach. Section 16 of the Electoral Act provides that payments made to political parties under the Act are based on their performance at the last preceding general election. Therefore, the change from 30% to 40% has to be made with reference to the holding of a general election rather than to a fixed time period only. Otherwise there would be potential for a situation where both the 30% and the 40% gender balance provision could end up being used as a criterion for payments to political parties in respect of the same general election. In the interests of fairness and in order to ensure compliance with the legislation the Bill must be very clear about when the change from 30% to 40% will apply. The formula used in the Bill achieves this clarity in a balanced and fair, yet ambitious way. I ask anyone who seeks to criticise the Bill for not going far enough to bear these points in mind. We need to be mindful of how far the provisions in the Bill go. They are ground-breaking and provide for real change and reform.

Reform of political funding has been promised for years and although the Government has been in office for less than one year, we are presenting another far-reaching and progressive piece of reforming legislation. The Bill will significantly enhance the openness and transparency of political funding in Ireland. The corporate funding of politics comes at a price above and beyond the value of any donations given and accepted. It brings with it an unavoidable perception of a mutually beneficial relationship. As we have seen in Ireland in recent years, this can have an incrementally corrosive impact on public trust in politics.

The Bill will decisively shift the balance of the current political funding and regulatory system in favour of the citizen. It will affirm the right in law to know how politics is funded, who is providing the funding and how that money is spent. The gender balance provision linking the State funding of political parties with candidate selection at Dáil elections has the potential to change the face of politics forever. This is real change and reform. I ask Senators to give the Bill the consideration it deserves as comprehensive, progressive and much-needed legislation. I look forward to hearing their views.