Annual Report 2008

Proposed amendments to the Electoral Acts relating to third parties

The Standards Commission has also recently published a report on its supervision of the "third party" provisions of the electoral legislation at the Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in 2008. This report was prepared at the request of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The report points to deficiencies in the Electoral Acts and suggests 4 main areas for improvement:

1. Criteria for registration as a third party - if the activities of third parties are to be regulated effectively, then registration should be based on intention to incur expenditure in a particular election or referendum campaign rather than on the motivation of actual or potential donors.
2. Registration for a particular campaign - the legislation should allow for registration for a particular campaign or on an on-going basis.
3. Transparency in funding and expenditure on campaigns - third parties and political parties should be required to disclose details of expenditure on referendum campaigns. Similarly, information should be made available on the sources of funding available to both third parties and political parties.
4. Sanctions for non-cooperation with the Standards Commission - the sanctions provided for under the legislation should be reviewed. In particular, failure to cooperate with enquiries made by the Standards Commission under section 4(4) of the Act should constitute an offence.

The Standards Commission notes recent announcements by An Taoiseach and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on greater controls on donations and spending at elections and referendums. The Standards Commission trusts that the suggestions it has made in its various reports and which are summarised in this chapter will assist in any review of the current legislation.

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