AT A TIME when our political system is suffering from a loss of public confidence, voters need reassurance that their concerns are being taken seriously. Remedial action is particularly urgent in the area of finance. For more than a decade now, a succession of tribunals have caused shock and dismay by their examinations of the grubby interface between business and politicians. In spite of that, legislation designed to bring clarity and transparency to all political funding has been deliberately undermined. That must change.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen can bring a fresh approach to the situation. Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley is already committed to change. And a series of reports from the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPOC) have identified the reforms necessary to transform political funding and rebuild public confidence. For a start, it suggested that all political donations be recorded in future, in line with a Council of Europe recommendation. That would put an end to the situation where the source of only a fraction of the money spent by political parties at election time is publicly disclosed. It would also challenge the perception that some politicians have been “on the take” from big business and that nothing is being done about it.
The extent of the problem was disclosed when SIPOC reported that of the €10 million spent during three weeks in the last general election campaign, only €1.3 million could be publicly accounted for. Those returns came, almost entirely, from the smaller parties because Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had deliberately solicited donations that were below the disclosure limit of €5,078. Both parties claim to support the principles behind the Ethics Act that lays down disclosure and spending limits. And they say the great bulk of their funding comes from raffles, draws and national collections. If that is the case, they should have no problem with a system that records all political donations. Aggressive fundraising by individual politicians must also be addressed, if only to prevent a recurrence of the situation where former minister of state Ivor Callely raised almost €70,000 in 2005, at a time when election spending was limited to €26,000.
In the aftermath of the Lisbon referendum, the major parties questioned the source of funding behind the No campaign orchestrated by Libertas. But, because of inadequacies in the ethics legislation, we will never know. The possibility of external political interference should, in itself, be sufficient reason to initiate reform. But the ongoing damage being done to public confidence by a lack of transparency in the fundraising and expenditure activities of individual politicians and parties makes such action imperative. An independent electoral commission is to be appointed by Government to review political funding. Mr Gormley is said to have the necessary arrangements in hand. It represents an important opportunity to get things right. The outcome will reflect both Fianna Fáil’s willingness to embrace change and the Green Party’s commitment to clean up politics.