Annual Report 2002

Guidelines

On 5 March 2002, as required under the legislation, the Standards Commission published Guidelines for the General Election to the 29th Dáil 2002. These set out, in detail, the legal obligations attaching to participants at the elections relating to donations and election spending. They were sent to the registered political parties and to candidates and election agents whose names had, at that stage, been notified to the Standards Commission, mostly by the larger political parties. They were also sent to any independent candidates who were known to be standing at the election. In addition, a leaflet containing frequently asked questions and answers was published and circulated.

An issue did arise in relation to the above in that most independent candidates, and some candidates from the smaller political parties, who were not known to the Standards Commission, did not receive the guidelines, or have any other contact with the Standards Commission, until less than two weeks before polling day. The legislation requires that the Returning Officer for a constituency must, after the latest date for the withdrawal of candidature at the election (4 May 2002), notify the Standards Commission of the name and address of each candidate and election agent in that constituency. Not unexpectedly, in the majority of cases, it was a number of days after 4 May before the Returning Officers could provide the Standards Commission with the relevant details. As outlined in the previous paragraph, this was not a problem in cases where the political parties had already supplied the information or where the Standards Commission was otherwise aware of the existence of candidates and election agents. However, it was most unsatisfactory for the Standards Commission to find itself in a position where it was unable, until a few days before polling, to communicate with a large number of persons who were involved in the general election campaign and who, it emerged, had little, if any, knowledge of their statutory obligations in relation to matters such as controls on expenditure and prohibition/limitations on acceptance of donations. The Standards Commission is not in a position to offer a legislative solution to this problem which, if it is not dealt with, will arise again in the future. The matter has been brought to the attention of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.

On 25 March 2002, shortly after publication of the guidelines, the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2002 was passed. This included an amendment of the previous definition of what constituted a donation. Because it had implications for candidates and election agents, it was decided by the Standards Commission to circulate an addendum to the guidelines which outlined the nature and effect of the change.

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