Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I thank the Minister for his enlightening comments. He said he does not like cheque book politics and I am sure everyone agrees with him. Politics should not be about swanning in from the Law Library, the Blackrock Clinic or Trinity College Dublin to do a spot of legislating while the poor man stands at the gate. If that is the problem the Minister is trying to address, the public funding of political parties will do little to prevent that. One gets the reward once one is elected. To promote access to politics, first-time candidates need assistance. I acknowledge funding is available if a candidate attracts a certain number of votes in an election but if the Minister was trying to promote access to politics and to make sure it did not become the preserve of the rich, he would not target non-corporate donations; he would just require transparency. The way the person who is not rich can access politics and run a good campaign is by approaching people who share his or her ideas and asking whether they will donate and be publicly associated with his or her political platform. I speak from experience. There is something appropriate about that. The issue is transparency. The Minister's stated motivation is laudable in terms of making sure the Oireachtas is not the preserve of the rich but public funding of political parties does not do much to address that possible mischief.

I take his point regarding the bureaucracy surrounding the amounts for disclosure but I do not see the reduction of the limit from €635 to €600 as a significant achievement. One could go much lower than that, and that is before we even talk about the phenomenon of people turning up to race nights. It probably happened more often during the days of the Celtic tiger when the builders had cash in their pockets and would buy any amount of tickets at a race night, none of which would ever have to be declared. We have a flawed system and a donation in excess of €100 is something one should be capable of noting down at the time one receives it - name and address of donor. It is not excessively onerous. I might rattle up an amendment on that for Report Stage and I look forward to debating it with the Minister.