January 2008 - Guidelines for TDs, Senators and MEPs on donations and prohibited donations

Part 6 - Political donations account

A member/MEP who receives, in a particular year, a monetary donation of more than €126.97 must open and maintain an account in a financial institution in the State and must lodge that donation and any further monetary donations received, of whatever value, to that account (hereafter referred to as a political donations account).

A definition of what constitutes "a financial institution" is provided in paragraph 2(e). It includes An Post and most banks, building societies and credit institutions. It does not, however, include a credit union. A credit union account, therefore, may not be used as a political donations account.

It should be noted that once a member/MEP has opened a political donations account, the requirement to maintain that account is ongoing. If, for example, a member/MEP were to close his/her political donations account (i.e. after an election) and he/she subsequently received a monetary donation of any value, the member/MEP would be required to re-activate the political donations account. Having regard to the possibility of such an occurrence, members/MEPs should maintain a political donations account even in circumstances where there is little or no activity on the account.

Not later than 31 January each year, a member/MEP who was required to open a political donations account must furnish, with the Donation Statement referred to in Part 7, a statement provided by the financial institution where the political donations account was opened. The statement must specify the transactions that have taken place in relation to the account during the preceding year. The member/MEP must also furnish a Certificate of Monetary Donations on which he/she certifies that all monetary donations received during the preceding year were lodged to the account and that all amounts debited from the account were used for political purposes. The Standards Commission will issue a Certificate of Monetary Donations form to each member/MEP at the beginning of January each year.

The certificate must be accompanied by a statutory declaration that, to the best of the member's/MEP's knowledge and belief, the certificate is correct in every material respect and that all reasonable action has been taken in order to be satisfied as to the accuracy of the certificate.

If it is the case that there were no transactions on the member's/MEP's political donations account during the preceding year, the member/MEP will be required only to state this on the Certificate of Monetary Donations form. He/She will not be required to complete the Statutory Declaration on the Certificate of Monetary Donations form or to provide a statement from the financial institution in which the political donations account is held.

The Standards Commission retains the statements from financial institutions and Certificates of Monetary Donations and does not disclose the contents thereof, unless ordered by a court to do so or where disclosure is required in connection with an investigation held by the Standards Commission.

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