A ban on corporate donations for political parties may be the price of Labour Party support in forming the next government, according to the party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn.
Mr Quinn said he could not envisage entering a coalition arrangement with a party which refused to ban corporate donations. He was particularly critical of Fianna Fail for attempting to roll back the limited funding and spending reforms which had already been introduced.
Last night Mr Quinn said he did not think it was possible for the Labour Party to compromise on the issue. The banning of corporate donations was central to public confidence in the political process.
There was widespread public cynicism and distrust because of the disclosures at tribunals of the link between certain politicians and big business. He believed that linkage "has to be terminated because it is at the centre of all that is wrong with Irish politics today".
Later, a spokesman said Labour would "go to war" over business funding and the Government's proposals for increased spending in the Electoral Bill, 2000, when the Dail returns at the end of the month. ail and Fine Gael to cut the link between politics and the corporate sector.
On Saturday the party's general council supported Mr Quinn's pre-election strategy and agreed to prepare for a June general election.
Mr Quinn told RTE's This Week programme yesterday that Labour would put forward policies designed to change a rich economy into a wealthy and more equal society.
Mr Quinn was not prepared to rule out any coalition option for the Labour Party in advance of the general election, which could possibly be 18 months away and take place in very different circumstances.
He raised the prospect of a Labour-led government, with the support of the Green Party, Independents and Fine Gael. ail or Fine Gael, he said, and that issue would have to be put before the public. At the moment, the country was floundering and the Coalition Government was failing to deal effectively with health, education and housing issues. The Labour Party argued there was a different and more effective way to run the country. P
He said people weren't really concerned about who was in government; their main concern was what the government was doing. Turning to the expulsion of three Labour councillors from the party group for voting in favour of waste charges for Dublin Corporation last Friday, Mr Quinn supported the disciplinary action.
The Labour group had opposed waste charges "as they are at the moment", he said, because the estimate would do nothing to reduce or to segregate waste.