What with internal party inquiries, tribunal revelations and the release three times a year of officially declared donations and interests, the whole murky business of political funding and donations is getting more and more confused. The statements of members' interests under the Ethics in Public Offices Act will be published in the next couple of weeks. It follows on the release of the 1999 donation details above £500 in February and of party donations over £4,000 released last month. Both come under the Electoral Act.
Interest in the conduct and finances of our public representatives has never been greater thanks to the Flood and Moriarty tribunals. The Rainbow coalition brought in the above measures and both Fine Gael and Labour now propose extending and strengthening anti-corruption and transparency of funding legislation. It's all a bit unwieldy, but the Government will soon publish the Standards in Public Office Bill, which is expected to amalgamate the various disclosure requirements by combining the two relevant pieces of legislation - the Ethics in Public Office Act and the Electoral Act - and possibly extending the remit.
The Department of Finance's package of reforms will include tax clearance requirements and a regime for dealing with breaches of the new legislation, but is unlikely to meet Opposition demands. Labour's Bill to eliminate corporate donations entirely, although voted down in the Seanad, remains before the Dail, as does its Bill requiring lobbyists to register what they are doing and the names of their sponsors for public viewing with the Public Offices Commission (POC) Fine Gael wants a cap on both corporate and individual funding, and disclosure at a lower level.
Another area being examined is the Exchequer grant to political parties whereby the six receiving more than 2 per cent of first preference general election votes share £1 million annually. The Opposition gets the most (to compensate for the absence of a state secretariat) and the expenditure is supervised by the POC. The Government has now proposed that the same supervision be applied to the leaders' annual allowance of £2m, divided on the same basis but which is not open to public scrutiny. This move follows the disclosure of Charles Haughey's spending.