The recent revelations that big property developers whose irresponsible borrowing brought this country to its knees, are enjoying expensive games of golf with leading politicians, while the State is dealing with their massive debts, shows why more than ever, we need to ban corporate donations in this country.
The Green Party has never accepted corporate donations from companies. When we renegotiated the Programme for Government last year, we secured a commitment that corporate donations would be made illegal. The Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, has made it clear that he intends to have the necessary legislation passed by Christmas.
Corporate donations are not just about corruption. They are about the perception that a politician will find it harder to make a decision or pass a law that negatively effects a particularly company, if that company has been writing big checks for his/her political party. We have seen the huge damage that has been done to our economy from the fact that a few businessmen who were tightly linked with a few top politicians during the Celtic Tiger years, managed to influence policy and get appointed to various state boards. I think that it is vital that the Green Party is successful in having this ban on corporate donations passed so we will never see abuses like these happen again.
