Report re spending at Dáil General Election of 2002 (Text)

Chapter 9 Appointment of candidates' election agents

In accordance with section 28 of the Electoral Acts each candidate at a Dáil election is required to appoint an election agent for the purposes on incurring election expenses on his / her behalf. A candidate may act as his / her own election agent.

Section 28 also provides that the returning officers for each Dáil constituency must notify the Standards Commission of all candidates contesting the election in the constituency and details of the election agents, if any, appointed by those candidates. Returning officers are also required to inform the Standards Commission if they are notified by a candidate that the appointment of an election agent has been revoked and a new election agent appointed.

As stated in Chapter 8 above, a number of political parties had provided the Standards Commission with details of their candidates and election agents. This allowed the Standards Commission to circulate its guidelines to these candidates and agents in good time for the election. However, in the case of candidates of some of the smaller political parties and many of the independent candidates, the first notification the Standards Commission received regarding their candidacy, or the appointment of an election agent, was from the returning officer for the constituency.

The Standards Commission wrote to each returning officer on 29 April 2002 requesting that he / she provide details of each candidate contesting the election in the constituency and details of the election agents appointed by those candidates. To ensure that the guidelines were circulated as quickly as possible to all candidates and their election agents, the Standards Commission requested returning officers to fax or e-mail the relevant information to it as soon as possible after nominations for the election closed (12.00 noon on 3 May 2002).

The Standards Commission wishes to place on the record the fact that the notification procedure provided for under section 28 of the Electoral Acts did not operate satisfactorily. Amongst the difficulties encountered by the Standards Commission were:

• delays on the part of some returning officers in providing the required information to the Standards Commission. This subsequently delayed the Standards Commission in issuing its guidelines to certain candidates and their agents
• information provided by some returning officers was unclear and / or incomplete. It was necessary to contact some returning officers a number of times to clarify the information provided. Again this delayed the Standards Commission in issuing its guidelines to the candidates and agents concerned
• there was confusion in some cases with regard to the appointment of an election agent. In a number of instances the person intended as election agent was not the person notified to the Standards Commission by the returning officer. The Standards Commission must accept that the information provided by the returning officer is correct. Similarly, the Standards Commission may only accept an Election Expenses Statement which has been completed by the person notified to it as the candidate's election agent. It was not uncommon for the Standards Commission to receive an Election Expenses Statement which had been completed by someone other than the person notified as the candidate's election agent. Where this happened the Election Expenses Statement was returned as invalid. The candidate was advised that he / she must have the Election Expenses Statement completed by the person notified by the returning officer as his / her election agent, or have that person's appointment as election agent revoked and have the person who completed the form appointed as election agent. If candidates intended to change their election agent, they were advised to notify the returning officer accordingly
• it was apparent to the Standards Commission that some returning officers were not fully aware of their statutory responsibilities, particularly in regard to the revocation of the appointment of an election agent.

The Standards Commission is required to provide advice to candidates regarding the appointment of an election agent. It can only do so, however, when notified of a person's candidacy. As returning officers are the first point of contact for many candidates in relation to the Electoral Acts, the Standards Commission is of the view that it would be helpful if returning officers were in a position to provide some basic information to candidates concerning the appointment of an election agent.

The Standards Commission considers that it would be desirable if, in addition to submitting nomination papers to the returning officer, candidates were required to notify the Standards Commission of their candidacy and of the appointment of an election agent. Perhaps it should also be possible for a candidate to notify the Standards Commission directly of a change of election agent rather than, as at present, the candidate having to do so through the returning officer.

Back to contents