Annual Report 2002

Review of Legislation

As stated above, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, in his address to the Seanad in the course of the debate on the Electoral (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, 2002, indicated that he would be carrying out a review of the Electoral Acts. Based on experience from supervising the legislation over the past number of years, including during the general election to Dáil Éireann in 2002, the Standards Commission agrees that a review of its operation at this stage is timely. Arising from that review and any amending legislation which may follow, it is hoped by the Standards Commission that the fundamentals of the legislation, in areas such as disclosure of donations, prohibition on acceptance of certain types and values of donations, limits on election spending and public access to material, will not be diminished. The Standards Commission is of the opinion that many technical aspects of the legislation should be examined with a view to streamlining its application in a number of respects. In that regard, the Standards Commission has accepted an invitation from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to furnish its observations. This will be done during the course of 2003.

Back to contents