European Parliament Elections 2009

D. Opening and maintaining a political donations account when required to do so

1.22 If a candidate receives, in any particular calendar year, a monetary donation for political purposes, the value of which exceeds €126.97, he/she must open and maintain an account in a financial institution in the State (a political donations account). (A credit union is not regarded as a "financial institution" for the purposes of the Act.) The candidate must lodge that donation and any further such monetary donations, of whatever value, received by him/her to that account. The account should be separate from any other personal account held by the candidate. The account should be in the candidate's name and he/she should be an authorised signatory on the account. All monies withdrawn from the account must be used for political purposes.

1.23 If a candidate already operates a political donations account he/she should not open a separate political donations account specifically for the election. The candidate should ensure, instead, that all monetary donations, of whatever value, received in relation to the election are lodged to his/her existing political donations account. If the candidate wishes to open a specific "election account" he/she can transfer money from his/her political donations account to the election account. Monies transferred to an election account could be regarded as having been used for electoral purposes.

1.24 It should be noted that MEPs have an ongoing requirement to maintain a political donations account and will be required, on an annual basis, to furnish documentation relating to the account to the Standards Commission.

Back to contents