Annual Report 2007

Funding under the Electoral Acts

In order to qualify for funding under the Electoral Acts, a political party must be included in the Register of Political Parties and must have obtained at least 2% of the first preference votes at the last Dáil general election. Funding was paid to six qualified parties up to 23 May 2007 on the basis of the results of the 2002 Dáil general election. The same six political parties are qualified to receive funding from 24 May 2007 on the basis of the results of the 2007 Dáil general election. The funding is not subject to income tax.

Each qualified political party is paid a basic amount of €126,974 annually. In addition, each qualified political party is also entitled to a share of an annual sum which was originally set at €3.8m and which increases in line with general pay increases in the civil service. The share of the fund payable to a qualified political party is determined by expressing the first preference votes of the qualified party as a percentage of the total first preference votes received by all qualified parties. During 2007, the proportion paid to qualified parties from the fund altered to reflect the change in percentages of their first preference votes at the 2007 Dáil general. The table below gives a comparative % share breakdown of the qualified political parties' vote at the 2007 and 2002 Dáil general elections.

Qualified Political Parties	First preference votes at 2007 general election as a % of total first preference votes	First preference votes as a % of qualified parties' total first preference votes at 2007 general election	First preference votes at 2002 general election as a % of total first preference votes	First preference votes as a % of qualified parties' total first preference votes at 2002 general election
Fianna Fáil	41.56	44.51	41.48	46.58
Fine Gael	27.32	29.26	22.48	25.24
Labour Party	10.13	10.84	10.77	12.10
Progressive Democrats	2.73	2.92	3.96	4.45
Green Party	4.69	5.03	3.85	4.32
Sinn Féin	6.94	7.43	6.51	7.31
Total	93.37	100.00	89.06	100.00

During 2007, an increase of 2% under Towards 2016 was applied to the fund with effect from 1 June 2007. At 31 December 2007, the annualised value of the fund stood at €4,709,769.60. When the basic payments of €126,974 payable to each of the six qualified parties are added to this annualised fund, the total amount payable to qualified political parties under the Electoral Acts at 31 December 2007 is €5,471,612.40. The total funding actually received by qualified political parties under the Electoral Acts for 2007 was €5,433,329. The difference is accounted for by the fact that the increased amounts were only payable for part of the year 2007.

The Electoral Acts require that funding received by a qualified political party must be applied to " the general conduct and management of the party's affairs and the lawful pursuit by it of any of its objectives and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any or all of the following purposes -

general administration of the party;
research, education and training;
policy formulation;
co-ordination of the activities of branches and party members."

The funding is also deemed to include provision in respect of the participation of women and young persons in political activity.

The funding cannot be used to recoup election or referendum expenses. In November 2006, the Standards Commission issued guidelines to qualified political parties instructing them that the funding could not be used to meet pre-election expenses (i.e., expenses incurred on goods, property or services which were used for electoral purposes prior to the commencement of the election period at the Dáil general election).

Each qualified political party is required to account annually to the Standards Commission in respect of its expenditure of funding received during the preceding year. The Exchequer Expenditure Statement must be audited by a public auditor and a copy of the auditor's report must be furnished to the Standards Commission with the Statement. The Standards Commission requests that Exchequer Expenditure Statements and auditors' reports should be furnished by 31 March each year. The Exchequer Expenditure Statements for 2007 detail the amount of funding received by each qualified political party in respect of 2007 as well as any funding unspent and brought forward from 2006. The Exchequer Expenditure Statements also give details under the above headings of how the funding was spent. Where a qualified political party has not, by 30 April in any year, furnished an Exchequer Expenditure Statement and auditor's report to the Standards Commission in respect of the preceding year, further payments of the funding will be suspended until such time as the Statement and auditor's report are received.

The Standards Commission furnished a report to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann in June 2008 providing details of the funding received under the Electoral Acts by qualified political parties in respect of 2007 and how this funding was applied. The Exchequer Expenditure Statements and auditors' reports were laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on the same day and were made available for public inspection and copying. The report contained details of the funding received and how it was spent and is available on the website of the Standards Commission.

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