December 2003 - Review of Electoral Acts

Third Parties

The Standards Commission has concerns about the effectiveness and scope of the provisions of the legislation relating to third parties. It understands the purpose of these provisions to be that politically active individuals or organisations would be subject to controls which are comparable to those applying to others who are covered by the legislation.

The legislation defines a third party as a person, other than a registered political party or a candidate at an election, who accepts, in a particular year, a donation the value of which exceeds €126.97.

Third parties must register with the Standards Commission. They are prohibited from accepting foreign donations and donations valued at more than €6,348.69. They must open and maintain a political donations account if they receive a monetary donation of more than €126.97. They must report annually to the Standards Commission in relation to the political donations account. Unlike political parties, parliamentarians and election candidates, third parties are not required to disclose the nature, value or source of their donations.

A donation, which can be money, property, goods or services, means any contribution given for political purposes. The definition of political purposes contained in the legislation is extremely wide and includes, inter alia,:

"to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the interests of a third party in connection with the conduct or management of any campaign conducted with a view to promoting or procuring a particular outcome in relation to a policy or policies of the Government or any public authority .".

The definition also refers to influencing the outcome of an election, a referendum or a campaign as described above.

Because the definition of political purposes is so wide it may, unintentionally, cover, on an ongoing basis, any of the following:

• local bodies such as Tidy Towns Committees, Residents / Tenants Associations, Community Organisations, etc.,
• organisations such as Trocaire, Amnesty International, Threshold, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, An Taisce, Credit Union Movement, Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, etc.,
• representative associations such as ICTU, IBEC, ISME, IFA, USI, etc.,
• other interest groups such as those representing vintners, lawyers, hoteliers, teachers, accountants, builders, doctors, nurses, etc.

The list is far from exhaustive. It is highly likely that, in conducting their day to day business, any of the above could be involved in activity which would fall within the definition of political purposes in that they would be attempting to promote or procure a particular outcome in relation to a policy or policies of the Government or any public authority, including a local authority. If a donation exceeding €126.97 was received in support of that activity, they would be regarded as third parties and would be required to comply with all of the relevant provisions of the legislation.

The Standards Commission doubts if it was the intention of the legislature that such bodies, in conducting their ordinary affairs, could find themselves covered by the legislation. It would, of course, be a different matter if any of them became involved in campaigning at an election or referendum in which case they should, and would, be covered.

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