Declan Ganley now on RTE News at 1.

[Trampas]

I am at a total loss as to why a member of a campaign group may not use his personal funds in a referendum campaign. Surely this should not be regarded as a "donation". I also note that if I were to allow a campaign group to use my spare room as a office then that too would have to be declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission. Surely this is crackers and an affront to democracy.

Do you believe there should be limits on campaign donations at all? If so, the answer to applying those limits to members of a campaign is fairly obvious: to ensure that donors don't attempt to get around campaign finance rules simply by becoming official members of the campaign.

No, I don't believe there should be limits. The Nice 2 "Yes" campaign seemed to have an effectively limitless budget. Let nobody tell me that the expenses of civil servants withdrawn from Brussels for the campaign
were declared to SIPO. Why should one party have to operate with its hands tied ?

[smiffy]

That's the interesting question, I think. If FF uses money from membership dues to fight the referendum campaign, is that an abuse?

Well except that all donations to Fianna Fáil (or any other party) would be covered by the legislation, wouldn't they? A more apt example might be to replace FF with something like the IIEA or the European Movement (if they were to get involved in the campaign).

[smiffy]

No, I don't believe there should be limits. The Nice 2 "Yes" campaign seemed to have an effectively limitless budget. Let nobody tell me that the expenses of civil servants withdrawn from Brussels for the campaign
were declared to SIPO. Why should one party have to operate with its hands tied ?

So your criticism of the requirement that limits be set on the donations of members was a bit of a red herring then.

[mmclo]

That's the interesting question, I think. If FF uses money from membership dues to fight the referendum campaign, is that an abuse?

Not as far as I know...the main restriction is they cannot spend Leinster House money (Leaders Allowance) on electoral matters. But again afaik the donations limits would apply to parties equally in terms of a referendum so it is an equal playing field.

Of course the issue for all and thus the people is that the figures are only published after the fact

[David Cochrane]

Smiffy, interesting point (but can we stay on topic or start a new thread???) - I think IIEA would only need to register with SIPO if they were seeking to influence people either way (yes or no) - if they were only acting to inform (and not pursuade) they may not need to register, from my take on the Electoral Act.

But can we discuss this in a new thread, it has nothing to do with Declan Ganley on RTE Radio.

[Trampas]

No, I don't believe there should be limits. The Nice 2 "Yes" campaign seemed to have an effectively limitless budget. Let nobody tell me that the expenses of civil servants withdrawn from Brussels for the campaign
were declared to SIPO. Why should one party have to operate with its hands tied ?

So your criticism of the requirement that limits be set on the donations of members was a bit of a red herring then.

I did not infer that.

[David Cochrane]

Guys, final warning, anyone who continues this discussion off-topic will find their ability to use the site somewhat restricted. final warning.