Disclosure of Donations and Election Expenditure at the Dáil general election of 17 May 2002 Text

G. Expenditure by the national agents of political parties at the Dáil general election

The following should be noted:

• The name of the political party is entered in column 1. The number of candidates of the party who contested the election is entered in brackets after the party's name.
• A candidate may assign a portion, up to 100%, of the statutory expenditure limit for that candidate to his/her political party. The amount available for expenditure by the national agent of a political party is the sum of the individual amounts assigned to the party by each of its candidates. Column 2 represents the total amount assigned to each political party by its candidates.
• The amount in column 3 relates to "national" expenditure accounted for by the national agent. "National" expenditure is that which does not relate to a particular candidate or constituency. It includes items such as party political broadcasts, manifesto, leader's tour, etc.
• The amount in column 4 is the total expenditure accounted for by the national agent of the party which was directly related to particular candidates.
• The amount in column 5 is the total expenditure accounted for by the national agent of the party at the election.
• The amount in column 6 represents expenditure accounted for by the national agent which was met out of public funds (e.g. Oireachtas facilities, etc.). This amount is included in the total in column 5. The Standards Commission has decided that where the expenditure limit has been exceeded as a result of expenditure being incurred which was met out of public funds, the matter will not be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions or to An Garda Síochána (see chapter 7 of report above).
• The legislation provides that minor expenses, not exceeding €126.97 in any one payment, are not election expenses. The Standards Commission did, however, request national agents to provide details of such expenses.

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