09/06/09 - Donation Statements furnished by Political Parties for 2008

Part 5 - Prohibited Donations

Section 23(1) of the Act provides that a political party must not accept, either directly or indirectly, an anonymous donation valued in excess of €126.97. If such a donation is received, it is required to be notified and remitted to the Standards Commission not later than 14 days after its receipt.

Section 23A(2) of the Act provides that a political party must not accept a foreign donation. A foreign donation is a donation from:

1. an individual (other than an Irish citizen) who resides outside the island of Ireland, or
2. a body corporate or unincorporated body of persons which does not keep an office in the island of Ireland from which one of more of its principal activities is directed.

The Standards Commission was not notified by any political party of the receipt of an anonymous or foreign donation.

Section 23A(1) of the Act provides that the maximum value of donations which a political party may accept from same donor in the same year is €6,348.69. Where a donor makes more than one donation to the same party, in the same year, the values of the donations must be aggregated and the donations treated as a single donation. Part 6 of the Standards Commission's guidelines for political parties on donations and prohibited donations sets out the steps which a political party should take to ensure that donations from the same donor in the same calendar year are properly aggregated.

When furnishing the party's Donation Statement, Fianna Fáil's Director of Finance, Mr David Burke informed the Standards Commission that in May 2008 Boyle Sports Ltd. had made a direct donation of €5,000 to Fianna Fáil HQ. Unknown to Fianna Fáil HQ, Fianna Fáil Louth CDC branch had also accepted a donation of €2,000 from this company. When the party became aware in March 2009 that donations exceeding the maximum prescribed limit had been accepted in 2008 from this company, a refund of €900 was made to Boyle Sports by Fianna Fáil Louth CDC. The party provided evidence of having refunded the excess donation.

The Standards Commission informed Mr Burke that where a donation in excess of the maximum prescribed limit is received, the person receiving the donation must return the excess donation within 14 days of its receipt. In this case it would seem that the donation accepted by Louth CDC had brought the aggregate value of donations received by the party from Boyle Sports above the maximum acceptance limit. In that regard the "responsible person" of Louth CDC should have returned the excess donation to the company within 14 days. Failing to comply with this requirement was a contravention of the Act and an offence under section 25 of the Act. It is the practice of the Standards Commission, however, not to seek a prosecution of this offence if the Act has otherwise been complied with - i.e., the excess donation has been returned. The Standards Commission informed Mr Burke that it did not intend to take any further action in terms of a referral of the matter to the DPP/Gardaí.

The Standards Commission drew the party's attention to its guidelines for political parties on donations and prohibited donations. Part 6 of the guidelines 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." Part 5 of the guidelines states that "the onus is on a person accepting a donation to check with the donor and/or with the party's appropriate officer that acceptance of the donation will not bring the total amount of donations received by the party from the donor above the maximum prescribed limit". Had the procedures recommended in the guidelines been followed, acceptance of a donation in excess of the maximum prescribed limit might have been avoided. The Standards Commission suggested that the party might use this experience to once again bring the Standards Commission's guidelines to the attention of responsible persons of accounting units, treasurers of branches of the party or any other officer who might be accepting donations on the party's behalf.

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