Gender quota to rise over time - Hogan

The 30 per cent gender quota political parties will have to implement in order to avoid financial penalties will rise to 40 per cent after seven years, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said today.

Mr Hogan said Cabinet had today approved his controversial plans under the Electoral
Amendment Political Funding Bill 2011 to cut State funding to political parties by half unless the gender target is hit.

"This is actually to allow political parties to put more female candidates into the field as candidates. It's up to the people to decide if they want to elect them or not, the same goes for men" he said.

"We're deliberately setting out to improve the participation rate of women in politics. There is a difficulty there, and I think it's unhealthy for democracy." He described the proposal as modest but groundbreaking.

The Bill also restricts corporate donations to parties. Mr Hogan said he would have preferred an outright ban on such donations, but had been advised by the Attorney General there could be Constitutional issues in relation to freedom of expression.

There will be a ban on the acceptance of donations over €200 by political parties from all sources unless the body has been registered with the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) commission.

The limit on political donations that may be accepted will be reduced from €6,348.69 to €2,500 by a political party and €2,539.48 to €1,000 by an individual.

There will be a reduction in the thresholds at which donations must be declared to Sipo from €5,078.95 to €1,500 by a political party.