POLITICAL parties and successful Dail candidates are to receive equal state funding under proposals to be considered by Cabinet today.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, is due to present a memo to his Government colleagues detailing changes in the 1994 Electoral Amendment Bill, which was put on ice after the McKenna judgment.
It is understood that constitutional difficulties defined by the Attorney General, Mr Dermot Gleeson, have now been ironed out in relation to the funding of parties and Oireachtas members. The original Bill proposed that parties be funded at £1 per vote cast.
However, the Government has been advised that all successful candidates and political parties must be treated equally when it comes to state funding of the political system.
The Government is to reform the existing Party Leaders' Allowances scheme, under which the State pays parties with more than seven Dail seats over £600,000 to run their offices.
Two-thirds of this fund goes to Opposition parties and, under Mr Howlin's proposals, this will change to take account of the McKenna judgment which said all parties and individual politicians should be funded equally.
It is understood that the state political fund will now increase to more than £2 million.
Under the Electoral Bill, any private donations of more than - £4,000 to parties must be declared, as must contributions of £500 to individual TDs. It is expected that private funding for political parties will fall off as a result of the insistence on publication.
A cap is also to be placed on the level of money parties can spend at election time.