Links between business and politics must go

A commonly professed view among commentators is that Ireland is undergoing profound changes. At every level of society we are told that the old ways are falling away and that long-established social norms and models of behaviour are changing. There is a tendency to exaggerate the extent of these changes, as every society is constantly evolving and moving on. What is perhaps particularly noticeable now is the pace of the changes.

In recent times seemingly impenetrable institutions have come under scrutiny and are perceived to be changing. One thinks of the Catholic Church, the banks and financial institutions, the judiciary and, of course, politics.

Confidence in the body politic has been seriously damaged. Those of us who operate within it must be seen to champion changes which will win back the confidence of the people.

The issue of how politics and politicians fund themselves is clearly a matter requiring immediate action.

Politics requires adequate funding to operate effectively. The way funding is raised and accounted for must be changed. Recently, I sought to address this by proposing a complete ban on corporate and business donations and an introduction of full State funding for political parties and candidates. The body politic must remove itself from any perception that it is beholden to any vested interests or outside bodies. The only way to do this, I believe, is to ban completely all such external funding.

I am encouraged that such a move is being examined in the context of the forthcoming Standards in Public Office Bill which promises to be comprehensive and far-reaching. Given the recent disclosures at the Flood tribunal, the time has also surely come for the murky world of political lobbyists to be regulated. This Bill would seem the appropriate forum.

It is reasonable that people should be able to make a modest financial contribution to the candidates or party of their choice. Registered voters should be allowed to contribute a maximum of £500 in a year. This would be inclusive of party membership fees, etc.

Modest contributions from registered voters should be the only acceptable source of donation to the political system. The financial dependence between politics and corporate, business and other external interests must be severed.

The Labour Party has been most vocal on this issue recently and supports the ban on external funding except for registered voters. The time has surely come for Ruairi Quinn to state clearly that this includes donations collected on behalf of the Labour Party from trade unions.

The Exchequer contributes in excess of £3 million to the various political parties annually, which is weighted in favour of the opposition parties. Private donations from registered voters will only go a small part of the way to legitimately funding politics. With a complete ban on corporate and business donations, the State should make up the shortfall.

This would involve an additional £5 million annually to be apportioned between parties and candidates who retain their deposits at election time.

Such a system should include provision for new candidates and parties; to do otherwise would give an unfair advantage to those already established. All candidates and parties should be obliged to publicly disclose income and expenditure on an annual basis and make it available for full scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Electoral Act, though moving in the right direction, is, I believe, too restrictive and indeed unworkable in parts. The expenditure limits, while well intentioned, are inoperable and a serious disadvantage to parties which may be running more than one candidate. Such close concentration on expenditure limits can, for candidates and parties, be a deflection from the real issues of substance in an election campaign.

It is, for example, a ludicrous situation that the Labour Party is potentially facing prosecution for exceeding by £200 the expenditure limit in the Dublin South Central by-election. Surely the current situation of allowing substantial donations while implementing strict expenditure limits is untenable. We should be moving towards a largely State-funded system, which prohibits all external contributions except from registered voters. Such a system of regulated political funding would be transparent and clearly accessible to public scrutiny. By taking business and vested interests out of the loop, the confidence of the public in the body politic can be restored.

Sean Fleming is a Fianna Fail TD for Laois-Offaly