Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Renua Ireland)
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77. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount of funding that has been allocated to a political party (details supplied); and the purpose of this money. [34957/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I presume that the Deputy is referring to the Parliamentary Activities Allowance (formerly known as the Party Leaders Allowance).

Provision for the allowance is made under the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 as amended, most recently by the Oireachtas (Ministerial and  Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2014. The allowance is paid to the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of the party. The conditions governing entitlement to payment of the allowance are set out in the Act.

Payments are made in respect of members of the party elected to Dáil Éireann and members elected/nominated to Seanad Éireann at the last preceding general election or a subsequent bye-election or, in the case of Seanad Éireann, nominated to it after the last preceding general election. The legislation also provides that payments may be made to a member of Dáil or Seanad Éireann who is elected other than as a member of a qualifying partyi.e. an Independent member.

The amount payable to party leaders is calculated on a tiered basis by reference to the number of party members who are elected or nominated to the Dáil or Seanad and is fixed at the time of the election, or following a bye-election. Members subsequently leaving or joining parties does not affect the position. The allowance was not introduced to support individual members of parties and the tiered calculation system provided for in the legislation is only used for calculating the payments dueit is not an allocation for individual members.

The total amounts paid to the Fine Gael party from 1 January 2013 to 30 September 2015 are as follows: