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

Chapter 16 Late claims and disputed claims

The legislation provides that all claims for payment of election expenses must be delivered to the election agent or national agent concerned within 45 days of polling day which, in the case of the Dáil general election, was 1 July 2002. Claims for payment received after this date may not be paid by the election agent or national agent concerned. It is an offence for an election agent or a national agent to pay a claim for election expenses which was not received by 1 July 2002. Although late claims may not be paid, they must be accounted for as election expenses by the agent concerned in his / her Election Expenses Statement.

Three election agents accounted for late claims in their Election Expenses Statements. The national agents of Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party also accounted for late claims in their Election Expenses Statements.

The legislation also provides that where a claim for election expenses is disputed by an election agent or national agent, details of the disputed claim should be provided in the Election Expenses Statement. The agent is not required to account for the amount which is in dispute when calculating the total amount of election expenses incurred. If and when the dispute is resolved, the agent is required to notify the Standards Commission of the amount agreed as payable by him / her and, if necessary, amend his / her Election Expenses Statement. If the dispute is resolved by means of a court order, a copy of the court order must be furnished to the Standards Commission.

Election Agents:

Five election agents referred to a disputed election expense in their Election Expenses Statements. In three of these cases the election agents accounted for the full cost of the expenditure item in the total of election expenses incurred although two of them confirmed that no payment was, or would be, made in respect of the disputed items. The third of these agents confirmed that although the disputed amount had been paid in error, no reimbursement was being sought from the supplier. In each of these cases the amount in dispute did not materially affect the total amount of election expenses incurred by either causing an overspend to have occurred or by increasing the amount payable to the candidate as a reimbursement of his / her election expenses.

The two other election agents deducted the amounts in dispute from the total amount of expenses incurred. They have been requested to inform the Standards Commission of the outcome of the dispute and of any amount which is ultimately payable.

National Agents:

The national agent of the Progressive Democrats provided details of a disputed election expense in his Election Expenses Statement. The amount in dispute is not included in the total amount of expenses incurred. The national agent has been advised to inform the Standards Commission of the outcome of the dispute and of any amount which is ultimately payable.

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