Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

Praise does not come easily to me.

Amendments Nos. 10, 11, 16 and 28, which affect sections 9, 13 and 24, deal with the provision of more detailed information on donors and donations. These four amendments will require that additional information is included on the statement of donations submitted to the Standards in Public Office Commission by candidates at all elections, political parties, third parties and elected representatives. The Mahon tribunal recommended that donation recipients be "required to provide more detailed information regarding both the source and nature of the donations disclosed". While the new requirements for the registration of corporate donors that are contained within the Bill will mean that detailed information will be available about such donors, these amendments apply additional requirements to all donations, corporate and non-corporate.

The tribunal recommended that in distinguishing between contributions which are true political donations and those which it describes as bribes, additional details should be included in a donation declaration form to identify whether the donation was solicited; the name of the person soliciting the donation and whether a receipt was given; and the date the donation was given and received. Amendments Nos. 10 and 11 will apply these provisions to Dáil, Seanad and European Parliament Members and election candidates, political parties and third parties. Amendments Nos. 16 and 28 will apply the new requirements, respectively, at presidential elections and to local authority members.

Currently recipients must provide information in their donation statements on the value of the donation and its nature, in other words, whether it is in cash, by cheque, in the form of property or services. They must also provide the name, description and postal address of the person on whose behalf the donation was made. The new requirements in the Bill for the registration of corporate donors will mean that detailed information is available to the public about such donors including: the name and address of the corporate donor; a statement of the purposes for which the corporate donor was formed; a list of each member, shareholder or trustee of the corporate donor; and a copy of its statement of accounts and annual report. I do not know who will make a corporate donation after that.

Amendments Nos. 10, 11, 16 and 28 will require that further additional information is provided in donation statements. This will complement the other provisions in the Bill.