December 2006 - Guidelines for Political Parties on donations and prohibited donations

6. Procedures for aggregating donations

As stated in part 5(a), section 23A(3) of the Act requires a political party to aggregate donations received from the same person in the same calendar year for the purposes of ensuring that it does not accept a donation which is in excess of the maximum prescribed limit of €6,348.69. In order to comply with this requirement, the appropriate officer of each political party must ensure that there are procedures in place to identify and deal with donations to the party which might exceed the maximum prescribed limit.

As stated in part 3, the Standards Commission will regard a donation as having been made to a political party if it is made:

• to party headquarters;
• to any branch or subsidiary organisation of the party;
• to any officer, member or agent of the party or of any branch or subsidiary organisation thereof;
• to a TD, Senator, MEP or member of a local authority of the party who passes on the donation to the party and receives a written acknowledgement of the donation from the party; or
• to a candidate of the party at a Dáil, Seanad, European or local election who passes on the donation to the party and receives a written acknowledgement of the donation from the party.

The Standard Commission recommends that all donations exceeding €100 in value which are received by a branch or subsidiary organisation of the party must be recorded and notified to the party's appropriate officer for the purposes of observing the maximum prescribed limit. This includes donations received by an elected representative, candidate at an election or other officer / member of the party which are passed to party headquarters or to branches or subsidiary organisations of the party. These procedures, if not already in place, should be put in place immediately.

Where the aggregate value of donations received by the party from the same person in the same calendar year exceeds €6,348.69 the steps outlined in paragraph 5(a) above must be taken. As stated in paragraph 5(a), the onus is on the intended recipient of a donation to enquire from the donor and / or the appropriate officer of the party whether this donor has made other donations to the party during the calendar year which will bring the donation being offered above the maximum acceptance limit.

As stated in part 7, the appropriate officer of a political party must notify the Standards Commission of details of the party's accounting units, i.e., branches or subsidiary organisations which have received a donation exceeding €126.97 in value. The recommended procedures concerning notification to appropriate officers of all donations exceeding €100 in value will ensure that appropriate officers are notified of all accounting units. This should ensure that the requirement to notify the Standards Commission of all accounting units is complied with.

As outlined in part 8, the appropriate officer of each political party is required to furnish an annual Donation Statement to the Standards Commission. Details of donations received during the preceding year which exceeded €5,078.95 in value must be disclosed. Donations from the same person in the same calendar year must be aggregated and disclosed if their aggregate value exceeds €5,078.95. The appropriate officer of each political party has a duty to make such enquiries and maintain such records as are necessary for the purpose of furnishing the party's Donation Statement. The Standards Commission considers that its advice concerning the notification to appropriate officers of all donations exceeding a value of €100 will assist appropriate officers in meeting this requirement.

The Standards Commission is aware that one of the purposes of the 1998 Electoral (Amendment) Act was to remove the requirement for the appropriate officer of political parties to aggregate, for disclosure purposes, every donation made to the party. Section 24(1)(c) of the Act provides that a political party's Donation Statement is not required to take account of donations made by an individual donor to members of the party where that individual is required to disclose such donations in accordance with section 24(1A) of the Act (see Part 5(d) above).

The requirement to aggregate has, however, been re-introduced with the provisions concerning the maximum limit on the acceptance of donations. Political parties are now required to aggregate donations for the purposes of remaining within the maximum prescribed limit. The Standards Commission has set out above the procedures which should now be put in place to comply with this requirement. In view of the requirement to aggregate donations and the procedures which should now be put in place, the Standards Commission is of the view that an appropriate officer should now disclose in the party's annual Donation Statement details of all donations from the same person which he/she has been made aware of, which have an aggregate value exceeding €5,078.95. This disclosure should be made irrespective of whether the donor has a requirement to furnish a Donation Statement under section 24(1A) of the Act (see part 5(d) above).

The Standards Commission is also of the view that notification to appropriate officers of all donations exceeding €100 in value will mean that appropriate officers will be in a better position to inform a donor if he/she has a requirement to furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission under section 24(1A) of the Act.

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