I move amendment No.1:
In page 5, to delete lines 34 and 36 and in page 6, to delete lines 1 and 2, and substitute the following:
"(6) (a) Sections 1, 2 and 4 Part IV, sections 45, 46, 47, 56(1) (other than paragraph (b), and sections 49 and 60 (in so far as they relate to donations at a presidential election), 70 and 72 (other than paragraphs (a) and (c)), and 73 shall come into operation on the passing of this Act.
(b) Parts I, III, V, VI and section 72 other than those provisions specified in paragraph (a) shall come into operation on the first day of January, 1988.
(c) This Act, other than those provisions specified in paragraphs (a) and (b), shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by order or orders of the Minister either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Act.".
This amendment provides for the insertion of a new subsection in place of subsection (6) of section 1. As I announced on Committee Stage the Government has decided the provisions of the Bill relating to the disclosure of donations for political purposes will come into effect on enactment of the Bill. It will not be subject to a commencement order. However, donations received before the commencement of the relevant sections will not have to be disclosed. Thus Part IV, which deals with disclosure of donations for political purposes by political parties and Members of the Oireachtas and the European Parliament, candidates at Dáil, Seanad and European elections, will automatically commence when the Bill has been signed by the President, so also will the provisions of Part VI in so far as they relate to disclosure of donations by candidates at a presidential election. Ancillary provisions, such as sections 2, 4, 70, 72 and 73, in so far as they relate to disclosure of donations, will also commence from the day of signing by the President. The provision dealing with payments to political parties and control of election expenses at Dáil, European and presidential elections will, as already announced to the committee, commence from 1 January 1998. These will automatically commence on that date without the necessity of a commencement order. The remaining parts of the Bill will be brought into operation as soon as possible by means of a commencement order. These are the parts dealing with the establishment of a constituency commission, postal voting and other miscellaneous amendments. We have had some debate on the commencement of all the provisions of this Bill and by and large we have a political consensus on the timeframe I am now suggesting. I ask the House to accept the amendment.