Annual Report 2006

Introduction by the Chairman

This Annual Report deals in the main with events during 2006, the fifth full year of the operation of the Standards in Public Office Commission. Because the report is not being published until mid-2007 in keeping with its statutory remit, however, inevitably the report deals with some matters occurring in early 2007. Of chief concern to the Standards Commission during this time were the preparation for the General Election to the 30th Dáil and the Commission's statutory functions in relation to that election as well as the publication of the Ethics in Public Office (Amendment) Bill 2007.

During the recent general election there was much comment about expenditure on campaigns by parties and candidates before the election period - which runs from the date of dissolution of Dáil Éireann to polling day. Such expenditure is not subject to regulation under the electoral legislation if the promotional material concerned is not used during the election period. There is considerable evidence that many parties "front loaded" their campaign expenditure on electioneering well in advance of the date of dissolution of the Dáil.

The Standards Commission's functions in relation to the limitation, disclosure and reimbursement of election expenses are set out in the Electoral Act 1997, as amended. Following the 2002 general election and at the request of the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Standards Commission published a review of the Electoral Acts in 2003. As part of this review, it stated as follows "Given the level of debate and comment around this issue and the potential for such to fundamentally undermine the perceived effectiveness of the legislation, the Standards Commission is of the view that consideration should be given to whether, in respect of a specified period prior to commencement of the legally defined election period, there is a case for imposing some accountability in the context of the spending limits." This view has been reinforced by the experience of the 2007 election campaign. It is now clear that the public perception of the legislation is that it is far from effective in its stated aim of regulating expenditure at elections by political parties and candidates.

In its 2003 review, the Standards Commission stated that it was fully aware of the difficulty in attempting to distinguish between what would be seen as normal representational activity prior to an election being called and what could be regarded as electioneering. The Standards Commission felt at the time that the only practical approach, which would ensure clarity and offer some possibility of effective monitoring, would be to regard as election expenditure all expenditure incurred on any activity within the specified period - perhaps 3 months - which could reasonably be construed as intended to elicit support at the election for a candidate or political party. The Standards Commission appreciated that this would require a record of expenditure being maintained for a three month period so that, if necessary, it could be accounted for by the relevant agent after the election.

There is a strong case to be made for a new approach to the general funding of political parties and sound arguments to be made for increased transparency in such funding and for greater scrutiny of political party expenditure. In 2003 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation (Rec (2003) 4) on common rules against corruption in the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns. As part of this, the Council approved a set of common rules which it recommended that member states should adopt in their national legal systems. While many of the rules are already provided for in our legislation, those which need to be implemented include recommendations that states should require political parties to keep proper books and accounts, that these accounts should specify all donations received by a political party and identification of donors in the case of donations over a certain value and that party accounts must be presented at least annually to an independent authority.

Finally, as in previous years, I want to thank my fellow members of the Standards Commission for their contributions during the year. I also want to thank the Commission Secretary, David Waddell, and the Commission Secretariat who served us very well during the year.

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