Government denies pulling 'a stroke' in its electoral reform bill

"I am genuinely horrified that a measure such as this has been proposed at the last minute," said Labour TD Ged Nash

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said the Taoiseach 'will not get away with this'. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Government has denied pulling "a stroke" in its electoral reform bill.

The bill was debated in the Dáil on Wednesday, with particular focus on a last-minute amendment that would allow for fundraisers such as monster draws and lotteries to be used by parties to raise funds.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Green Party TD Malcolm Noonan, said that debate around the amendment meant TDs were "losing sight of the core premise of the entire bill".

It is unfortunate that members have chosen to see this as a stroke or anything untoward.

"It is to allow political parties to participate in our electoral system.

"We must not lose sight of the overall premise of the bill, which is around the establishment of an electoral commission and to improve and strengthen our democracy and accountability and transparency in our political system."

Minister of State for Heritage, Malcolm Noonan.

Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said Sinn Féin "is trying to stop individuals from buying tickets in a raffle".

"That is not actually what it is doing, though," he said.

It is distracting from what it does as a party and it is trying to label all of us as dirty, stroke-ridden and so on. 

"I cannot put up with that. I cannot let people say that about my party now, because my party does not have that kind of activity or money.

"The vast majority of parties in this Chamber do not have it. We should not pretend to the public, for the sake of a 30-second clip, that Irish politics is awash with dirty money, because it is not, and we know it is not."

Opposition 'horrified'

However, there was widespread condemnation of the amendment by the Opposition.

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said the Government parties were looking to create a "new source of funding".

"Political parties cannot go near lottery licences," he said.

"There is a very serious issue that the Taoiseach dodged yesterday but he will not get away with this." 

Huge amounts of money were raised by a political party in this State unlawfully. Now the Minister of State is coming forward to do the dirty work to make it lawful in the future for them to have their national draws.

Social Democrats TD, Cian O'Callaghan, said "these amendments came in to introduce a new form of fundraising for political parties without any proper debate or scrutiny before now", while Labour's Ged Nash said he was "horrified".

Social Democrats housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

"I am genuinely horrified that a measure such as this has been proposed at the last minute, without having been properly signalled to the Dáil, and without it having had the opportunity to properly interrogate and ventilate all of the issues that arise here over the past few weeks," he said.

Kerry Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae said "the worst aspect of what is going on here this evening is the sleight-of-hand way in which it is happening".

"That is probably the worst of all," he said.

"I have no problem with any party or persons who want to bring a proposal before the House or Oireachtas committees, if they do so in a timely fashion and give everyone a chance to engage, debate, thrash it out, come to a consensus and have a vote if necessary. 

However, to rush something such as this in sends out all the wrong messages, not just in the Houses of the Oireachtas, but around the country.

"It looks bad and that is why I am opposed to it."