Annual Report 2007

Donations

Donations disclosed by TDs, Senators, MEPs and former Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas for 2007

Any person who was a Member (TD or Senator) or MEP during 2007 was required to furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission by 31 January 2008. In the case of outgoing members who were unsuccessful at the Dáil or Seanad general elections in 2007, a Donation Statement was required notwithstanding the fact that he/she may already have furnished a Donation Statement as an unsuccessful candidate at the election. Donations received during 2007 which exceeded a value of €634.87 were required to be disclosed. Donations from the same person in the same year must be aggregated for the purposes of observing the disclosure threshold and the maximum acceptance limit.

297 Donation Statements were received for 2007. This total comprised 166 Donation Statements from TDs, 60 from Senators, 13 from MEPs and 58 from former Members. Donations totalling €855,995.05 (of which €13,820.52 was returned to the donors because the donations concerned were in excess of the maximum prescribed limit) were disclosed. Donations disclosed included money, property, goods and services. The amount disclosed represents an increase of €724,071.38 on the figure of €131,923.67 for 2006 and reflects the fact that 2007 was an election year. Of the figure for total donations disclosed, a total of €74,651.98 had already been disclosed by Senators, MEPs and former members as unsuccessful candidates at the Dáil and Seanad general elections. (A donation of €3,300 was disclosed by a former member who did not contest either election.) When the net figure of €764,222.55 is added to the total amount of donations disclosed by unsuccessful candidates at the Dáil and Seanad general elections (€579,596.07) the total value of donations which can be said to have been disclosed by successful and unsuccessful candidates at the Dáil and Seanad general elections is €1,343,818.62.

Political Donations Accounts

Members and MEPs are required to open and maintain a political donations account if a monetary donation of €126.97 is received. All subsequent monetary donations must be lodged to the account and all monies from the account must be used for political purposes. If there were transactions on the political donations account during 2007, the Member/MEP was required to furnish with his/her Donation Statement, a statement from the bank in which the account was held. The statement must show all of the transactions on the account during 2007. The Member/MEP was also required to furnish a Certificate of Monetary Donations on which he/she certified that all monetary donations were lodged to the account and that all monies from the account were used for political purposes. A Member/MEP whose political donations account was not active during 2007 was required only to state this on the Certificate of Monetary Donations and was not required to complete the Statutory Declaration or to forward a copy of a bank statement. 280 Certificate of Monetary Donations forms were received. 17 persons did not complete a Certificate of Monetary Donations on the basis that they did not hold a political donations account. 131 TDs, 28 Senators, seven MEPs and 26 former Members submitted bank statements to the Standards Commission in respect of 2007. 35 TDs, 32 Senators, 6 MEPs and 32 former members did not submit a bank statement on the basis that they did not hold a politicial donations account or that there had been no activity on the political donations account during the year.

It is evident from returns furnished to the Standards Commission that a number of political donations accounts which had been opened for the 2002 general election had not been maintained and were required to be re-opened for the 2007 general election. The Standards Commission strongly recommends that, once opened, a political donations account should be maintained until the person is no longer required to comply with the Electoral Acts. This advice is contained in revised guidelines for Members and MEPs on donations and prohibited donations which were issued by the Standards Commission in January 2008.

It was also evident that some Members or former Members had not lodged monetary donations received by them to their political donations account. While it is an offence to fail to furnish, when required, a Certificate of Monetary Donations and Statutory Declaration or a statement from a financial institution, or to knowingly furnish any one of these documents which is false or misleading in a material respect, there are no offences or penalties for failing to open a political donations account or for failing to lodge a donation to a political donations account. In the absence of any sanction and in view of the fact that the donations in each case were ultimately used for political purposes, the Standards Commission did not take any further action in relation to the above candidates.

The Standards Commission furnished a report to the Ceann Comhairle on the disclosure of donations received by Members, former Members and MEPs in 2007 on 22 April 2008. The report, which contains details of the donations disclosed, is available on the website of the Standards Commission.

Donations disclosed by individual donors

Section 24(1A) of the 1997 Act, as amended, provides that an individual who makes donations in a calendar year, the aggregate value of which exceeds €5,078.95 to

two or more persons, who, when the donations were made, were members of the same political party, or
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 by 31 January of the following year. The Donation Statement must disclose the aggregate value of the donations made, 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 were also required to be disclosed by the recipient. From Donation Statements furnished to it by unsuccessful candidates at the Dáil and Seanad general elections, the Standards Commission identified two individuals, Ms Ruth Coppinger and Mr Mick Murphy, who in each case, had made donations exceeding €5,078.95 to two or more members of the Socialist Party. The Standards Commission wrote to Ms Coppinger and Mr Murphy on 30 January 2008 enclosing a Section 24(1A) Donation Statement form for completion. Donation Statements were subsequently received from Ms Coppinger and Mr Murphy and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 22 April 2008.

Donations disclosed by political parties in respect of 2007

Each of the 14 political parties registered to contest a Dáil or European election was required to furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission by 31 March 2007. Donations received during 2007 which exceeded an aggregate value of €5,078.95 were required to be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which a political party can accept from the same person in the same calendar year is €6,348.69. Donations received from the same donor in the same calendar year must be aggregated for the purposes of observing the disclosure and maximum acceptance limits. The total value of donations disclosed by parties during 2007 was €266,484.98.

During 2007, a new political party, People Before Profit Alliance, registered with the Registrar of Political Parties as a political party for the purposes of contesting Dáil and Local elections. A political party that is registered to contest Dáil elections is subject to the provisions of the Electoral Acts. In accordance with section 71 of the 1997 Act each political party must appoint "an appropriate officer" for the purpose of furnishing the party's annual Donation Statement and for other matters arising under the Electoral Acts. If no appropriate officer stands appointed the leader of the party is deemed to be the party's appropriate officer. The Standards Commission wrote to the party on 12 July 2007 advising it of the requirements of section 71 of the 1997 Act and requesting it to provide details of its appropriate officer. A reminder letter issued on 13 February 2008 informing it that in the absence of the appointment of an appropriate officer, its leader would be deemed to be its appropriate officer, and as such would be responsible for furnishing the party's annual Donation Statement. No reply was received from the party. A difficulty for the Standards Commission in this regard is that the Register of Political Parties does not identify who a party leader is. It was not possible for the Standards Commission to ascertain who may have been responsible (in the absence of the appointment of an appropriate officer) for furnishing the party's Donation Statement. The Standards Commission wrote to the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties concerning the difficulties it had experienced in obtaining a reply from this political party.

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