Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Moynihan, Hoey, Sherlock and Wall for these proposed amendments, which relate to the publication of the register of political parties. These amendments were previously tabled by Deputy Nash in the Dáil on Committee Stage.

In respect of amendment No. 18, when bringing across the 1992 Act’s existing provisions in respect of the making available of the register, I removed the stipulation that the register be made available for inspection at the offices of the registrar, making the text in section 51 of this Bill more general so that it does not contain an implication that the register is a physical document that must be inspected at the registrar’s offices.

Regarding amendment No. 20, as I mentioned, the existing precedent is that the register of political parties is published online several times per year. This will continue with the transfer of the register to the commission. In respect of its publication on the commission’s website in an accessible format, as I mentioned earlier on, the European Union (Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector) Bodies Regulations 2020 will apply to the website and content produced by the commission.

Therefore, I am of the view that these amendments are not required and I do not propose to accept them.

In respect of amendment No. 19, which proposes the publication of additional material on the governance arrangements of political parties, I will set out the information included on the register at present and that is published online by the Clerk of the Dáil several times per year. This register includes: the name and emblem of the party; the address of the party’s headquarters; the names of the officers of the party authorised to sign off on the candidatures of candidates of the party at elections; the name and address of each accounting unit of the political party and the name and address of the responsible person or persons of the accounting unit; the types of election for which the party is registered as being organised to contest; the name of any European political group or European political party which the party may be a member on in accordance with section 47; and, where applicable, the part of the State where the party is registered to contest elections. The proposed amendment offers an additional measure of transparency but, as it only proposes the publication of the governance documents submitted with the party’s initial application for inclusion on the register, it does not encompass situations where changes are made to the governance documents in question over time, as would be likely. Therefore, I cannot accept the wording of this amendment.