Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

As Senator Mac Conghail said, the immediate disclosure is something that would have to be examined, but I do not see any difficulty with that. There is no threshold in the amendment either. It could be helpful. There could be a way whereby when donations or contributions are lodged into the person's separate political account, that information could be forwarded on. I accept there would be administrative difficulty as well in calling for an immediate disclosure. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. We will decide on the basis of that response whether we will support this amendment.

Corporate donations are also mentioned in the amendment. As the Minister knows, we have put forward legislation in the Lower House to ban all corporate donations. The Government has taken the view that it would be unconstitutional but we do not agree. One of the reasons we will oppose this Bill is that, while it goes a long way towards that objective, there is no complete abolition of corporate donations.