Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line is that it is a snapshot in time on that day. As Senator Thomas Byrne who asked the rhetorical question knows, Senator David Norris's mandate is as an Independent from his electorate of university voters in the university of Dublin. He would retain the allowance as an Independent. If he were to join the Labour Party, Fine Gael or any other party, he would still retain his Independent status because that was the determination in the snapshot in time.