1997 Electoral Act: The law with a hole in it

The letter sent to the Taoiseach by 60 civil society organisations about what is clearly a hole in the 1997 Electoral Act will not, it is to be hoped, be put in the file marked IBU — Interesting But Unimportant.

Co-ordinated by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), the letter highlights what must have been an unintended consequence of legislation which quite properly outlaws large, anonymous and foreign donations to election candidates and political parties. Money talks, but it shouldn’t be able to a buy a democracy.