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

3.6 - Spending Limits

Section 3(1) of the Act provides that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may by order increase, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the statutory spending limits at Dáil elections. On 14 March 2007, the Minister, having regard to changes in the CPI since September 2001 (the last time the spending limits were increased) made an order (Electoral Act 1997 (Limitation and Reimbursement of Election Expenses at Dáil Election) Order 2007 (S.I. No. 113 of 2007)) which increased the statutory spending limits as follows:

• 3 seat constituency - increased from €25,394.76 to €30,150.00
• 4 seat constituency - increased from €31,743.45 to €37,650.00
• 5 seat constituency - increased from €38,092.14 to €45,200.00

The statutory spending limit is for each candidate in a constituency and is inclusive of VAT. The statutory limit represents the maximum spending allowed on a candidate in a constituency and includes all spending by the election agent and a political party (both head office and local organisation) on a candidate. No separate or additional spending by a political party on a candidate over and above that which has been assigned to the party by the candidate is allowed.

A candidate contesting the election on behalf of a political party could agree in writing, with his/her political party, an amount of his/her spending limit which would be assigned to the party for spending by the party's national agent. This could be up to 100% of the candidate's limit. There is, however, no legal obligation on a candidate make any assignment to the party. If a candidate refused to assign any part of the statutory spending limit to the party, the party could not incur any expenses on that candidate at the election (unless authorised to do so by the candidate's election agent). The candidate's election agent can only spend the amount of the statutory limit for that candidate which remains after the assignment to the party has been made.

The Act does not specify when the assignment must be made or preclude a renegotiation of the assignment at any stage during or indeed after the election campaign. The Standards Commission advised in its guidelines that assignments should be agreed before any expenses are incurred. While this was generally the practice, in many cases assignments were re-negotiated during or after the election campaign. It is not clear to the Standards Commission whether the ability to renegotiate an assignment is intended as part of the Act. The Standards Commission is satisfied, however, that legally it is not in a position to refuse to accept a renegotiation of an assignment even after an Election Expenses Statement has been furnished to it. There were a number of instances where the assignment was renegotiated after the statutory deadline for receipt of Election Expenses Statements. In most cases the renegotiation was required because the election agent had exceeded the spending limit available to him/her after the assignment had been made to the party.

The Act specifically provides, however, that the agreed assignment must be made in writing between a candidate and the party. Where assignments were renegotiated a new written agreement had to be drawn up and election agents were required to furnish a copy of the written agreement with their Election Expenses Statements.

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