When large donations and political power join up, it's not a pretty

I ARRIVED into my office in the Dail after the Christmas break and began to go through my post. One letter contained a cheque for pounds 50,000, made out to the Labour Party, from businessman Denis O'Brien.

It was sent back the following day. Thanks, but no thanks.

Don't get me wrong. It's not as if the Labour Party doesn't need pounds 50,000. Money is always a problem for the Labour Party. We don't have the links to wealthy donors enjoyed by the other big political parties.

We have received a small amount of donations from companies, but most of our funding comes from the fees of individual party members and trade union affiliation fees.

In fact, the cheque sent back to Denis O'Brien was the single biggest donation ever offered to the Labour Party.

But it was sent back because Labour believes that the time has come to end the link between big business and politics.

Nothing less is required if we are serious about restoring public trust in politics.

Unfortunately, none of the other major parties think the same way. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats all received a pounds 50,000 donation from Denis O'Brien in recent months.

They gladly lodged it to their bank accounts.

Fianna Fail and the PDs, in particular, are determined that this system does not change. They have fought, tooth and nail, Labour's attempt to clean up politics and rid the image of the brown paper bag from Irish public life once and for all.

I firmly believe that ordinary voters are disgusted at the revelations that have come from the Tribunals over recent months.

The Flood and Moriarty Tribunals are investigating what happens when large donations and political power come together.

What they have revealed is not a pretty sight.

Big donations to political parties, and individual politicians, have undermined politics in this country.

For some, like Charles Haughey, private greed, not public service, was the aim of political life.

It is a disgrace and the system that allowed that disgrace continue for years must be changed. That is why Labour wants to ban corporate donations.

But our Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who served as Chief Whip for Charles Haughey, won't face up to the challenge of cleaning up politics.

In fact, he wants corporate funding to continue to play a role in politics, especially in election campaigns.

When Labour was last in Government, my colleague Brendan Howlin introduced new legislation to limit the amount of money that candidates could spend during elections.

He put these laws in place because it was clear that the large parties were spending huge sums of money on election campaigns. In the worst case, some politicians were trying to buy votes.

For example, we now know that Ray Burke personally received an incredible pounds 117,000 in donations in the three weeks before the 1989 general election.

By comparison, Labour's Sean Ryan spent just pounds 5,800 during that election campaign in the same constituency.

Brendan Howlin's legislation created an even playing pitch for all election candidates.

A maximum limit on the amount a candidate could spend in an election was introduced.

This legislation represented a major breakthrough and introduced a degree of fairness to Irish elections which hadn't been seen before.

Now Fianna Fail plan to undo this progress and put big bucks back at the heart of Irish elections.

The Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, has published legislation which will increase these limits by up to 50 per cent.

So, for example, in the Taoiseach's own constituency of Dublin Central, the FF machine will be able to spend pounds 50,000 at the next election - that's pounds 16,000 more than would have been allowed under the existing limits.

The net effect across the 41 constituencies in the country is that FF will be able to spend an additional pounds 1million at the next election, if Minister Dempsey's proposals go through.

And who is going to bankroll this election binge? No doubt, Fianna Fail's friends in the corporate sector have been earmarked to cough up the lion's share.

Is it any wonder then that the Taoiseach is so desperate to cling on to the discredited system of corporate funding?

When it comes to the crunch I don't believe that the Taoiseach or FF have learnt one thing from the scandals of recent years.

Senior FF figures, such as Charlie Haughey, Ray Burke, Padraig Flynn, Denis Foley and of course Liam Lawlor, have serious questions to answer about their fundraising activities and I am certain that the Tribunals will get to the truth.

Yet, the Taoiseach is still determined to see politics dependent on big business donations, despite all that we now know.

Labour's message is clear. Let us fundamentally change the system of funding political parties once and for all.

We don't want our political system dogged by rumours of a 'golden circle'. It has done too much damage in the past.

Big business donations have no place in modern Irish politics. No fudges, no half-way houses, they must be banned.

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