Sinn Féin submission on electoral funding

Sinn Féin MLA Francie Molloy says the Electoral Commission's public hearings into the Funding of Political Parties, scheduled to take place in Belfast today, afford the opportunity to highlight serious concerns about British Government interference in the electoral and democratic process.

"There are currently very serious concerns about the conduct of the electoral process in the Six Counties and the negative influence which the British Government have exerted over it in recent years," said Molloy. "Since the Good Friday Agreement the British Government has made four separate interventions to undermine the electoral and democratic process.

"They have suspended the political institutions.

"They have, with the Irish Government, established the IMC as an institutional camouflage for excluding Sinn Féin from the political process and are new actively considering that option.

"They have disenfranchised over 200,000 voters in an attempt to get an electorate which suits them.

"They have discriminated in favour of the SDLP to the tune of £200,000 of public money and against Sinn Féin in an attempt to help the SDLP's election fortunes in the allocation of policy development grants.

"In short, they have created and sustained an unlevel electoral playing field.

"Tomorrow's hearing will provide an opportunity to address at least the latter point and also provide a platform for us to submit our own ideas on the wider issue of party funding. We are demanding that the discrimination against Sinn Féin's electorate is ended.

"We are proposing that all donations are recorded and that all anonymous donations are limited to £50. It is also our firm belief that Irish citizens living abroad should be allowed to donate to political parties of their choice at home and that a cap or limit on the size of donations should be agreed as a result of discussions between the political parties.

"Sinn Féin is broadly in favour of state funding for political parties as long as it is administered on the basis of equality. Properly regulated state funding will have the effect of preventing undue influence over the political process by corporate bodies and lobbyists."