Guidelines for Political Parties on Exchequer funding under the Electoral Acts (March 2009 edition).

6. Payment of Exchequer funds

Section 19(1) of the Act provides that payments are made by the Minister for Finance to qualified parties in arrears on a quarterly basis. Payments apply from polling day at a Dáil general election until the day before polling day at the next Dáil general election. If the Dáil is dissolved in the middle of a quarter, payments are made on a pro rata basis from the beginning of the quarter to the date of dissolution.

Section 17(4A) of the Act provides for the funding of qualified political parties following a merger. If one or more political parties amalgamate with another political party or if two or more political parties merge into a new political party established for the purpose of the merger, then, if the enlarged party or new party falls within the definition of a 'qualified party' as defined under section 16 of the Act (see section 2 above), the enlarged party or new party shall be eligible for Exchequer funding under the Act. The total number of first preference votes obtained by every candidate of each former party shall be attributed to the enlarged party or the new party, as the case may be for the purposes of determining the amount payable to the party.

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