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

9. Inspection of documents furnished to the Standards Commission

Section 4(1) of the Act provides that the Standards Commission will consider every Statement of Expenditure of Exchequer funding furnished to it and, where it considers it appropriate to do so, will furnish a report to the Chairman of the Dáil on any matter arising in relation to such statements. It is the practice of the Standards Commission to furnish such a report each year. The report contains summary details of the payments received by the parties during the relevant year and of the amounts spent under each heading. The report is also published on the Standards Commission's website.

The Standards Commission is required under section 20(3) of the Act to lay a copy of each Statement of Expenditure of Exchequer funding and auditor's report before both houses of the Oireachtas.

In accordance with section 73 of the Act, each Statement of Expenditure of Exchequer funding and auditor's report is retained at the offices of the Standards Commission for a period of three years and is available for public inspection and copying.

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