Donations Disclosed by Political Parties for 2007

Part 2 - Disclosure of donations by the appropriate officers of political parties

A political party is defined in the Act as a party that is registered in the Register of Political Parties to contest a Dáil or European Parliament election. Section 71 of the Act provides that each such political party must appoint an appropriate officer for the purposes of furnishing the party's Donation Statement and carrying out certain duties provided for in the Act. Where no appropriate officer stands appointed at any given time, the leader of the party is deemed to be the appropriate officer.

During 2007, a new political party, People Before Profit Alliance, registered with the Registrar of Political Parties as a political party for the purposes of contesting Dáil and Local elections. The Standards Commission wrote to the party on 12 July 2007 advising it of the requirements of section 71 of the Act and requesting it to provide details of its appropriate officer. A reminder letter issued on 13 February 2008 informing the party that in the absence of the appointment of an appropriate officer, its leader would be deemed to be its appropriate officer, and as such would be responsible for furnishing the party's annual Donation Statement. No reply was received from the party. The Standards Commission wrote to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties concerning the difficulties it had experienced in obtaining a reply from this particular party. A reply was subsequently received from the People Before Profit Alliance on 29 May 2008.

Section 24(1)(b) of the Act provides that the appropriate officer of a political party must furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March every year. The Donation Statement must show, in relation to the preceding calendar year, whether or not, during that year, the party received any donations exceeding €5,078.95 in value. Section 22(2)(d) of the Act provides that the values of donations received from the same person in the same year must be aggregated and, if the total value exceeds €5,078.95, the donations must be disclosed. Where a donation in excess of €5,078.95 has been received, the actual value and nature (i.e. cheque, cash or property/goods) of the donation must be stated together with the name, address and a description of the donor (i.e. whether the donor is an individual, company etc..) In accordance with section 24(3) of the Act, the Donation Statement must be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration to the effect that the Donation Statement is correct in every material respect and that all reasonable action has been taken by the appropriate officer in order to be satisfied as to its accuracy.

In accordance with Section 22(2)(a) of the Act, a donation to a political party means any contribution given for political purposes by any person. A person means an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons.

A donation can include:

a donation of money;
a donation of property or goods;
the free use of property or goods;
a free supply of services;
the difference between the commercial price and the (lower) price charged for property, goods or services; (this can include a loan provided to a political party by a financial institution at terms and conditions which are more favourable than that provided by the financial institution to other individuals. It can also includes loans provided by persons other than financial institutions. Details of the Standards Commission's position with regard to the issuing and repayment of loans are set out in part 4 of its guidelines for political parties which were published in December 2006.)

A donation can also include the net value of a contribution to a fund-raising event organised by a political party. The costs of holding a fund-raising event are deducted from the proceeds of the event for the purposes of calculating the net value of each person's contribution to the event. A political party is not required to disclose the total value of the proceeds of a fund-raising event.

Where a political party (including a branch of a political party) organises a fund-raising event on behalf of a TD, Senator, MEP or candidate at an election and the proceeds of the event are passed to him/her, the party is regarded as an intermediary accepting donations on the person's behalf. The contributions to the event are deemed to have been made to the TD, Senator, MEP or candidate concerned and he/she is responsible for disclosing the donations if required to. If, however, the funds are retained by the party, the contributions to the event are deemed to have been made to the party.

Section 22(2)(c) of the Act provides that where a donation is made to a TD, Senator or MEP and is passed on to a political party and a written acknowledgement of the donation is received from the party, the donation will be deemed to have been made to the party. Section 22(2)(c)(i) of the Act provides that where a donation is made to a candidate of the party at a local election or to a member of the party who is a member of a local authority the donation is deemed to be a donation to the party. This provision was introduced by the 1998 Electoral (Amendment) Act. It has not been amended, however, to take account of the fact that candidates at local elections and members of local authorities have their own disclosure requirements under the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 as amended. In its guidelines for political parties the Standards Commission states that it will only regard a donation made to a candidate at a local election or a member of a local authority as having been made to a political party if the candidate or member concerned has passed the donation to the party and has received a written acknowledgement from the party that it has accepted the donation. Political parties are not, therefore, required to account for donations which have been received by candidates at local elections or members of local authorities and which have not been passed on to the party.

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