13/12/07 - Report on disclosure of donations and election expenses at Dáil general election of 2007

3.5 - Appointment of political parties' national agents

In accordance with section 28(1) of the Act each of the political parties was required to appoint a national agent for the purposes of incurring expenses on behalf of the party at the election. The Act requires that the Standards Commission be notified of the appointment of a national agent not later than the last day for receiving nominations at the election (8 May 2007). If a political party has not provided the relevant information by the last day for withdrawing nominations (9 May 2007), the party's appropriate officer (appointed under section 71 of the Act) is deemed to have been appointed as the party's national agent. If no appropriate officer stands appointed, the leader of the party is deemed to be the party's appropriate officer and as such to have been appointed as the party's national agent.

Nine political parties had candidates contesting the Dáil general election. Eight of those parties notified the Standards Commission of the appointment of a national agent. As the Christian Solidarity Party did not notify the Standards Commission of the appointment of a national agent, its appropriate officer was deemed to be the party's national agent. In accordance with section 6(a) of the Act, the Standards Commission published in Iris Oifigiúil, on 14 May 2007, the names and addresses of the national agents appointed, or deemed to have been appointed, by each of the political parties.

The national agent is the only person who can incur election expenses on behalf of the party out of the spending limit assigned to it by its candidates (see 3.6 below). Where expenses have been incurred by or on behalf of a political party before the appointment of a national agent, the party must furnish details of all such expenses, together with all relevant vouchers, to the national agent. The national agent can authorise other persons to incur expenditure or make payments within specific limits set by the national agent. The national agent must account for spending by all such authorised persons.

Spending by the national agent out of the amount assigned to the party can be either on the candidates or at national level. Spending on a candidate is spending which identifies and promotes a candidate(s) in a constituency. This includes the party's 'team' in a constituency. Where election materials (e.g., posters, billboards) featured a party's leader and its candidates, the expenditure was deemed to have been incurred on the candidates concerned and not the party leader. Spending by the national agent on a particular candidate cannot exceed the amount assigned to the party by that candidate. No part of a candidate's spending limit can be transferred from one party candidate to another in a constituency.

National spending is not directly related to the promotion of candidates in constituencies. It generally includes a reference to the party, its leadership, its policies or election issues in a national context and by its content and geographic extent is aimed at attracting votes in the country as a whole. Such spending is usually on items like the party manifesto, party political broadcasts, tours by the party leader, etc. Where party political broadcasts featured members of the party leadership or party spokespersons, the expenses incurred were regarded as national spending and not regarded as having been incurred on the individual candidates.

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