Campaign finance accountability
Senator O’Sullivan raises obscene election literature and asks whether organisations campaigning on legislation should disclose their spending and funding sources; colleagues debate accountability and SIPO registration.
I raised the matter earlier this week of the obscene literature we have been receiving, which resonated with other Members. To my surprise, it resonated with my electorate, namely, county councillors who are in touch with me on matters such as this. Whether they were for or against the legislation, many of them were upset by the obscenity of the stuff they are getting through the post, which I had not been aware of. When someone stands for election to a town council, county council, the Seanad or the Dáil, he or she is obliged to comply with a great deal of red tape regarding campaign expenditure. We are all aware of the plethora of forms we have to fill about what we spent, where we got the funding and so on. The Standards in Public Office Commission and so on are involved. The two sides are spending a great deal of money campaigning on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013. The pro-life side is spending much more than the pro-choice side. It is an understatement to say the pro-life side is spending at least as much as my party would spend on a general election campaign. Should groups such as these, which are specific to legislation of this magnitude, have to comply with the rigid investigation and scrutiny to which we are subject?
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Should those involved have to indicate how much they are spending and, more important, where they are getting it?
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Did they have a tent at any race meeting?
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Excuse me, I have never interrupted the Senator.
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I do not know why Senator Mullen needs an additional ten minutes to contribute to next week's debate because for the past three years he has spent ten minutes a day raising the issue.
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Should organisations such as these, as well meaning as many of them may be, be able to spend money without answerability and accountability about how much they are spending and, more particularly, where the money is coming from? People on the street are asking that question. Where is the money coming from? There are murky suggestions about some of it.