Donations Disclosed by Political Parties for 2007

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 of the political parties 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. When submitting a Certificate of Monetary Donations for the Dublin North East Comhairle Dáil Cheantair Accounting Unit, "the responsible person" (see Part 5 below) informed the Standards Commission that the accounting unit had received two donations of €6,500. In each case evidence was provided that the amount in excess of the maximum prescribed limit of €6,348.69 (€151.31 in each case) had been returned to the donors.

The appropriate officer of Fianna Fáil, Mr. Seán Dorgan was not aware of these donations when completing his Donation Statement. It was necessary to return his Donation Statement in order that it could be amended. Part 6 of the Standards Commission's guidelines for political parties recommends that all donations exceeding €100 in value which are received by a branch or subsidiary organisation of a political party should be recorded and notified to the party's appropriate officer for the purposes of observing the maximum prescribed acceptance limit. Mr. Dorgan was asked to ensure that responsible persons and treasurers of local organisations of the party are fully aware of their obligations in this regard.

Section 23A(5) provides that where a donation in excess of the maximum prescribed limit, is received by a political party, the party must notify the Standards Commission within 14 days and remit the donation, or in the case of a monetary donation, that part which is over the limit, to the Standards Commission. As an alternative to notifying and remitting the donation to the Standards Commission, a political party may, within 14 days, return the donation, or in the case of a monetary donation, that part which is over the limit, to the donor and keep a written record of that return for the purpose of it being furnished to the Standards Commission, if required. It is an offence under section 25(1)(b) of the Act to fail to comply with this requirement. It is the practice of the Standards Commission not to seek a prosecution of this offence if the person has otherwise complied with the requirements of the Act, i.e. by returning or remitting the excess donation. It was evident in this case that the Dublin North East Comhairle Dáil Cheantair Accounting Unit had not returned the excess donations within 14 days of their receipt. The Standards Commission decided, however, not to refer the matter to the Gardaí.

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