THE GOVERNMENT has prioritised some of its electoral reform policies including a ban on corporate donations as well as its “jobs budget” in its first programme of legislation.
A total of 20 Bills are included on its list of urgent Bills released yesterday. The Government expects the Bills to be published by the end of the summer session on July 21st.
While a majority of the Bills in the list have been carried over from the last government, there are four new Bills that set out the Government’s priorities during its first five months in office.
The planned legislation places strong emphasis on political reform and dealing with the economic crisis.
One of the main new proposals is the Electoral Amendment (Political Funding) Bill, which will ban corporate donations, set new rules for political funding and impose lower thresholds above which donations have to be declared.
It will also limit donations from individuals to parties to €2,500. In addition, maximum donations to candidates will be lowered from €2,539 to €1,000.
However, in a mix-up that gave rise to some embarrassment last night the Government also mistakenly included the Electoral Commission Bill in the list of priority Bills. This would provide for an independent commission to oversee the electoral process and a statutory register of lobbyists.
The Department of the Environment contacted The Irish Timeslast night to say the Bill would not be ready by summer and, thus, should be on the list of Bills to be published later in 2011 or in 2012. The Bill that should have been included in the priority list was a Boundary Commission Bill.
It will mean, in effect, that two of the three pieces of reforming legislation to which Taoiseach Enda Kenny committed the Government in the Dáil last week following the publication of the Moriarty report will not pass through the Oireachtas until later in this Dáil term.
Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe last night said its inclusion in the priority list was a “genuine misunderstanding”.
While corporate donations will not be allowed, the new law when enacted cannot prevent any individuals making donations as long as they remain below the allowable limits. Among the issues to be addressed by the Coalition in finalising the Bill are possible measures to prevent donations from a significant number of individuals from one corporate body.
There is also the question of whether or not trade union subscriptions to the Labour Party should be considered as corporate donations.
Fine Gael Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said last week that trade union funding to political parties should be banned while a number of Labour representatives have argued for their retention, asserting that such funding is not analogous to corporate donations.
On the finance side, new legislation will give statutory backing to any tax changes that may be required for the “jobs budget” that the Government said it would introduce within 100 days of taking office.
A new Central Bank Bill will expand the supervisory powers of the Central Bank and also strengthen its financial regulation functions.
Two of the Bills to be published give effect to the conditionalities of the International Monetary Fund and EU Memorandum of Understanding published in November. The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill will change the social welfare code.
The changes include the introduction of more stringent job activation policies for the unemployed, as well as introducing “sanction mechanisms” for beneficiaries not complying with job-search requirements.
