Annual Report 2005

Donations

Donations disclosed by TDs, Senators and MEPs in respect of 2005

By 31 January 2006, TDs, Senators and MEPs were required to furnish to the Standards Commission their Donations Statements and accompanying documentation in respect of 2005. Any donations with a value exceeding €634.87 received during the year had to be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which can be accepted from the same donor in the same calendar year is €2,539.48. Donations received from the same donor must be aggregated and regarded as a single donation for the purposes of the disclosure and maximum acceptance limits. TDs, Senators and MEPs are prohibited from accepting anonymous donations exceeding €126.97 or foreign donations of any value.

A total of 233 Donation Statements were received in respect of 2005 (166 TDs, 60 Senators and 7 MEPs - the remaining 6 MEPs are also TDs or Senators and a single Donation Statement was received in respect of their dual mandates). Donations with a total value of €147,526 were disclosed in respect of 2005. This is a decrease of 12% compared with the figure of €166,793.79 for the calendar year 2004. Donations disclosed included money, property, goods and services.

Details of donations disclosed in respect of 2005 are contained in a report to the Ceann Comhairle which was published on 30 March 2006. The report, which is available on the website of the Standards Commission, also contains details of Supplementary Donation Statements furnished in respect of 2003 and 2004 by Senator John Hanafin.

Donations made by multiple donors in 2005

Section 24(1A) of the 1997 Act (as introduced by section 6 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1998) provides that a person who makes donations in a calendar year, the aggregate value of which exceed €5,078.95, to -

1. two or more persons who, when the donations were made, were members of the same political party, or
2. one or more persons and to the political party of which such person or persons were members when the donations were made to them,

must furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission showing the aggregate value of the donations, the political party concerned and the name, description and address of each recipient. The donor is required to furnish the statement irrespective of whether the donations are also required to be disclosed by the recipient. No section 24(1A) Donation Statement was received during 2005.

Donations disclosed by political parties in respect of 2005

By 31 March 2006, each of the 13 registered political parties was required to furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission in respect of donations received during 2005. Donations exceeding €5,078.95 in value received during the year had to be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which a political party can accept from the same donor in the same calendar year is €6,348.69. Donations received from the same donor during the year must be aggregated and regarded as a single donation for the purposes of the disclosure and maximum acceptance limits.

Statements received in 2005 showed that political parties received disclosable donations with a total value of €142,917.55. Details of donations disclosed in respect of 2005 are contained in a report to the Ceann Comhairle which was published on 16 May 2006 and which is available on the website of the Standards Commission.

Disclosure of donations made by companies under section 26 of the 1997 Act

Section 26 requires companies to include in their statutory annual report/return to the Companies Registration Office (CRO), details of any political donation(s) exceeding €5,078.95 in value which were made by them during the year to which the report/return relates. Donations include money, the free or below cost use of property, goods and services and the gross value of a contribution made by a company to a fund-raising event.

The report/return must specify the value of the donation and the name of the individual/political party to which it was given. Donations made by a company to the same individual/political party during the year to which the report/return relates must be aggregated and treated as a single donation for the purposes of observing the disclosure threshold. With effect from 1 January 2002, it is an offence for a company to fail to comply with the provisions of section 26. The penalty for this offence is a fine not exceeding €1,269.74.

During 2005 the Standards Commission liaised with the CRO and examined returns made by companies which had been included on the annual Donation Statements furnished by political parties as having made a donation exceeding €5,078.95. It was evident from the returns examined that some of these companies had not included the required details in the relevant report/return furnished to the CRO. The Standards Commission wrote to the companies concerned notifying them of their failure to comply with section 26 of the 1997 Act and requesting them to ensure that in future, where donations exceeding €5,078.95 are made by the company, details of same are included in the relevant statutory report/return to the CRO.

In some instances the amounts disclosed by companies in their annual report/return did not correspond with the amounts disclosed by the party on its annual Donation Statement. The Standards Commission recognised that this may have been on account of the fact that:

1. returns furnished by some of the companies were not in respect of a single calendar year (unlike a political party's Donation Statement); and
2. companies must disclose the gross value of a contribution to a fund-raising event whereas a political party need only disclose the net value of such a contribution.

The Standards Commission wrote to the parties concerned requesting them to provide details of donations received by them from the companies concerned during the relevant period. If a donation received was in the form of a contribution to a fund-raising event the party was asked to indicate the gross and net value of the donation. At the time of writing this report, the Standards Commission is still corresponding with the parties concerned.

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