Madam, - To all, except for those who do not wish to see, it must be obvious that political donations should be banned and that the political system should be financed from the public purse.
Time and again at the various tribunals "political donations" were used as the fig leaf to cover financial transactions of the most dubious nature. Against this background it is almost beyond belief that Mr Martin Cullen has the effrontery to propose that, far from being banned, political donations should be increased by raising (or perhaps removing) the current limits on corporate donations.
Even some of Mr Cullen's cabinet colleagues have expressed public opposition to his proposals and Mr Dermot Ahern has said he favours allowing corporate bodies to make donations to an "independent democratic fund" that could be disbursed (to all political parties) in a clear and transparent manner.
Such a fund would, in the event of political donations being banned, reduce the burden on the taxpayers (about whom Mr Cullen professes to be concerned) and would enable all those altruistic people who are so anxious to "support the democratic process" to do so without any implication that they were trying to buy influence in the corridors of power. - Yours, etc.,
M.D. KENNEDY, Silchester Park, Glenageary, Co Dublin.