Ahern ready to discuss limiting business donations, but no ban

Last Christmas Fianna Fail was talking about capping individual corporate donations at £20,000 for a political party and £5,000…

Last Christmas Fianna Fail was talking about capping individual corporate donations at £20,000 for a political party and £5,000 for an individual, under the terms of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2000.

But three months has changed everything. Now the party is considering greatly reducing subventions from big business, with some Ministers advocating a ban on such payments.

Bertie Ahern, as usual, hedged his bets in the Dail yesterday. When challenged by Michael Noonan and Ruairi Quinn to take the big step and ban corporate funding, the Taoiseach accepted that bad and unacceptable things had happened.

And he offered to talk with the Opposition parties about new funding arrangements. But there was no question of his cutting links to big business.

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The Fine Gael and Labour leaders wouldn't bite. Having nailed their flags to the anti-corporate donation mast, they weren't going to make it easy for the Taoiseach.

Michael Noonan, still smarting from the Esat Digifone controversy, reminded Mr Ahern of the £8 million received by Charlie Haughey; the £5 million mentioned in relation to Liam Lawlor; and the hundreds of thousands that went elsewhere, before asking for a ban on corporate donations and a low limit for personal donations.

Ruairi Quinn felt the Taoiseach had an opportunity to rescue politics if such a ban were introduced.

But Mr Ahern wasn't listening. The best he could offer was an all-party committee that would discuss definitions as they affected private and corporate donations.

There had been major difficulties in the past about corporate donations and big money, he conceded. But the problem, he insisted, had related to the size of the donations, not their source. In that regard, he was prepared to talk about reducing the size of donations.

It was just another fusillade of shots in an ongoing campaign. Ministers had discussed the matter at Cabinet yesterday. But they came to no firm conclusion in the absence of Mary Harney, whose Progressive Democrats want to retain an umbilical feed from the private sector.

There is, however, ferocious pressure on the Coalition Government to bend to the winds of change generated by the Flood and Moriarty tribunals. And political funding is top of the agenda.

The Denis O'Brien/Esat Digifone/Telenor donation of $50,000 to Fine Gael in 1995 fell out of the party's closet at the worst possible time. Its link to the granting of a second mobile phone licence by the rainbow coalition just added to public cynicism.

If the choice was between State and corporate funding of politics, there would be no contest.

The Labour Party led the way almost a year ago when it tabled a Private Members' Bill in the Dail to ban corporate funding. It received the half-hearted support of John Bruton and Fine Gael. But the public climate was such that the Government didn't dare oppose it at Second Stage.

Once it was referred to the Environment and Local Government Committee, however, Jackie Healy-Rae, encouraged by Noel Dempsey, sat on it. And there it remains.

AS Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats prepared to set limits on corporate donations for the first time in the Electoral Bill, Michael Noonan went for broke.

The new leader of Fine Gael abandoned the fence-sitting posture of his predecessor and made common cause with the Labour Party. Henceforth Fine Gael would accept no donations from the corporate sector. It would rely on small, individual payments and give politics back to the people.

Fianna Fail was appalled. The rules of fund-raising had just been torn up. The argument that a ban on corporate donations would infringe the Constitution had been circumvented by Fine Gael's voluntary interdiction.

Would the Government parties go to the wire on it, or would Fianna Fail be forced into a U-turn under public pressure?

The Esat Digifone/Telenor episode provided some welcome relief for Fianna Fail. Fine Gael was hurting. And Martin Cullen put the boot in for the Government. It was payback time. Fianna Fail was appalled that the Moriarty tribunal had not been informed of the payment.

Shades of that old Rennicks payment which Fianna Fail had failed to report and Fine Gael's high dudgeon.

Watching John Bruton and Michael Noonan go through convulsions of explanation was a sweet joy.

But a price has invariably to be paid for such pleasure. And because Fianna Fail's skeleton-holding closet is at least as commodious as Fine Gael's, it was only a matter of time before the public focus switched back to the largest party.

Already, some of those opposed to corporate funding within Fianna Fail are beginning to blame the Progressive Democrats for the Taoiseach's obduracy. Mary Harney's party, they said, was the only one now receiving any sizeable donations from the business sector.

Recently in the Dail the Tanaiste argued there was no difference between donations from corporations and from wealthy individuals.

And, while she was prepared to discuss the issues, the role played by the business community in funding the launch of the Progressive Democrats was clearly a major consideration.

As things stand, the Government's offer to reduce funding limits, while retaining a business connection with politics, will not fly. The pre-election skirmishing goes on.