Annual Report 2002

Payments made in respect of 2001

Under the 1997 Act, total payments to qualified parties could not exceed €1,269,738 annually. This figure, however, was subject to an automatic increase in line with general increases in civil service remuneration. The total funding which was available to qualified political parties in respect of 2000 was €1,379,616.80. During 2001 there was a 2% increase effective from 1 April 2001 and a 5.5% increase with effect from 1 October 2001, under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. In addition, the 2001 Act increased the level of funding with effect from 1 November 2001. In a full year, qualified parties would now be paid €126,974 each and would share €3,809,214, on the basis described above. The total funding available to qualified political parties in respect of 2001 was €1,980,471.

The amount actually paid to qualified political parties in respect of 2001 was €1,950,054. The balance of €30,417 represents the amount that would have been payable to Democratic Left, up to 31 October 2001, had it continued to be registered as a political party. In no longer being registered, since the merger with the Labour Party in January 1999, it did not meet one of the qualifying criteria for payment. However, the 2001 Act provided that where one or more political parties is or are amalgamated with another political party, the total number of first preference votes obtained by every candidate of each former party would be attributed to the larger party. Accordingly, with effect from 1 November 2001, the Labour Party is eligible to receive the funding that would otherwise have been payable to the former Democratic Left.

A breakdown of how the funding received by each of the six qualified political parties in respect of 2001 was spent is provided in Table D.

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