Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Senator Garvey. I am here as the leader of the Green Party and, as has been mentioned by the proposer Senator Ward, the Green Party is the only other party in this Chamber that operates North and South. Therefore, I will lay out our perspective on this. The motion calls on the Government to update the electoral laws to ensure a political party that is registered in this State and in another jurisdiction, such as north of the Border, accepts no donation greater than those allowable under SIPO. We certainly agree with that and have no problem with that. I wonder why anyone else would have a problem with that.

We can look at donations in three different ways. We can say to ourselves: "Here are the rules. This is what SIPO says. We are, as a party, going to look at those rules and we are going to go a step further and put in place within our own party more obligations." The second thing we can do is to look at SIPO and do exactly as it says, as most political parties will do. The third thing we can do is look at what SIPO says and say: "Is there an offshore bank account we can put our money into? Is there a loophole that we can find?"

Fundamentally, this comes down to a matter of ethics. We know from looking at other jurisdictions across the world that we have all been complaining about what has happened with Brexit, repeal and the 2016 election in the United States. Then we sit here and say we think Ireland should follow the same path. I think not. It is up to Sinn Féin to say it is leaving behind its past and is moving into the democratic process we are all involved in.

It has been mentioned that Sinn Féin has 200 staff and more than 50 properties. I have done a back-of-the-envelope calculation and Sinn Féin is also entitled to 110 staff within Leinster House. That is more than 300 staff. We are operating in a system where we are trying to compete, for want of a better word, for votes against these parties. We simply cannot do it, particularly online. I do not know, coming from a party that operates North and South, how anybody can reasonably have an all-Ireland campaign and say they are satisfied they are not using that €4 million. Will there be staff employed North of the Border who will retweet things? Will they retweet tweets down South? How will Sinn Féin show and convince us that is not happening?

The easiest thing for Sinn Féin to say is that it is not taking the €4 million. I have here the will and it is incredibly clear that it is to cover election expenses, to fund Sinn Féin offices and advice centres, to aid republican prisoners and their families in both Ireland and Britain, and that it is to be held in trust for the political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is incredibly clear. I do not know how that obligation could be fulfilled if the money is taken up North in the first instance.

The easiest thing to do is to give back the money in excess of €2,500, but I also call on the Minister to put that obligation in place. It would also be an obligation on the Green Party, the only other party here to which it would apply. I further call on the Minister to come back to us before 31 December as to how he might reasonably check how the funding is being used.