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

Chapter 15 Overspending

Election Agents

The Electoral Acts provide that an election agent will be deemed to have overspent at the election if he / she:

a) exceeds the statutory expenditure limit applicable to the candidate at the election, or

b) exceeds the amount of the expenditure limit retained by the candidate (the candidate having assigned a portion of his / her expenditure limit to the party).

It was evident from the Election Expenses Statements received that the total expenditure accounted for by some election agents exceeded the amount of the expenditure limit retained by the candidate and, in a small number of cases, also exceeded the statutory expenditure limit applicable to the candidate. In each case, however, the amount in excess was less than, or equal to, the amount of election expenses which the election agent had accounted for in his / her Election Expenses Statement where the costs had been met out of public funds.

As stated in Chapter 7 above, the Standards Commission had decided that it would not be appropriate for it to refer a file to the DPP where an overspend had occurred at the general election specifically as a result of the court action in the Kelly case which gave rise to the requirement to account for election expenses where the costs had been met out of public funds. In other words, a file would not be forwarded by the Standards Commission for possible prosecution unless it was evident that the amount of an overspend exceeded the costs of election expenses being accounted for by the election agent which were met out of public funds. The Standards Commission did not refer any cases of overspending at the Dáil general election to the DPP.

Rule 3A of the Third Schedule to the Electoral Act, 1992 (as introduced by section 44 of the Electoral Act, 1997) provides that where a petition to set aside the result of a Dáil election alleges an irregularity or non-compliance with any provision of Part V of the Electoral Acts, leave of the High Court to present such a petition may be applied for not later than 14 days after the laying of a copy of an Election Expenses Statement before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Standards Commission has no function in relation to an election petition to the High Court.

National Agents:

The Electoral Acts provide that the national agent of a political party will be deemed to have overspent at the election if he / she:

a) incurs expenditure which exceeds the total amount assigned to the party by its candidates, or

b) incurs expenditure on a particular candidate which exceeds the amount assigned by that candidate to the party.

In considering the Election Expenses Statements furnished to it, the Standards Commission found no evidence of any national agent having overspent at the election.

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