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

3.7 - The election period

The spending limit at a Dáil general election applies to all expenses incurred and payments made in providing property, goods or services which are used for electoral purposes during the "election period". Section 31(3)(a) of the Act provides that the election period at a Dáil general election is from the date of the dissolution of the Dáil (29 April 2007) up until polling day at the election (24 May 2007), both dates included.

Expenses which are incurred or payments which are made at any time before the date of dissolution of the Dáil on property, goods or services which are used during the election period must be accounted for. The exception to this is the cost of an opinion poll or other similar survey which is taken within the period of 60 days before polling day. Such cost is regarded as an election expense and must be accounted for.

If expenses were incurred or payments were made on property, goods or services which were intended to be used but were not used, or only partly used, during the election period it was not necessary to account for the unused part. Similarly, it was not necessary to account for expenses incurred or payments made in respect of property, goods or services which were used before or after the election period. Some examples of this might be:

• promotional material circulated by candidates/political parties before the election period commenced;
• insurance or rental costs applying to a campaign premises or vehicles in so far as the costs related to a period before and/or after the election period;
• "Thank you" notices circulated after the election;
• The costs of removing posters after the election.

In its guidelines for the general election the Standards Commission advised that advertisements which appeared in newspapers, magazines or other publications and which carried a publication date which was during the election period would be regarded as election expenses. If the publication date was before or after the election period, the advertisements would not be regarded as election expenses. The reason for this advice is that many local newspapers are available for purchase before their date of publication. It is not possible for the Standards Commission to ascertain the date of availability of every local newspaper. The publication date of the paper, therefore, is taken as the basis for determining whether an advertisement is used during the election period or not. It was suggested to the Standards Commission that a particular newspaper, which had altered its publication date, may have done so to ensure that advertisements it carried during the final week of the election campaign would not be regarded as election expenses. It was not possible for the Standards Commission to take any action in this regard. It may, however, prompt the Standards Commission to re-consider its advice in relation to newspaper advertisements.

During the election there was considerable evidence of and much comment about pre-election spending by parties and candidates. Such expenditure was not required to be accounted for if the materials concerned were not used during the election period. Legitimate concerns were expressed that the "front-loading" of campaign expenditure diminished the effectiveness of the expenditure limits.

The Standards Commission has repeatedly called for a review of "the election period" at Dáil and European elections. This is particularly important where a Dáil general election is held after a government has run its full term of office. (Where a "snap" election is called the "frontloading" of expenditure is unlikely to arise). In its review of the Act in 2003, the Standards Commission stated that "Given the level of debate and comment around this issue (the election period) and the potential for such to fundamentally undermine the perceived effectiveness of the legislation, the Standards Commission is of the view that consideration should be given to whether, in respect of a specified period prior to commencement of the legally defined election period, there is a case for imposing some accountability in the context of the spending limits." This view has been reinforced by the Standards Commission's experience of the 2007 election campaign.

The purpose of expenditure limits is to create a level playing field for all candidates and to prevent a "free for all" in terms of election spending. The Standards Commission considers this to be a fundamental principle of the Act. Limiting election expenditure reduces the dependence of candidates and political parties on political contributions to fund election campaigns and is recognised by the Council of Europe and the Group of Member States against Corruption (GRECO) as an effective tool in combating corruption. It is now clear that the public perception of the legislation is that it is not achieving its stated aim of limiting expenditure at elections by political parties and candidates. The Standards Commission is in no doubt that the lack of an effective election period at a Dáil general election undermines the purpose of having expenditure limits in place and runs the risk of bringing the provisions of the Act governing election expenditure into disrepute. There is the danger that if the issue of the election period at Dáil and European elections is not satisfactorily addressed the accounting for expenditure at such elections will be perceived as little more than a paper exercise.

The key issue in determining the duration of the election period is to decide at what point does expenditure on activity of an electioneering nature which occurs prior to dissolution have an impact in terms of voter awareness and should, therefore, be regarded as election spending. The Standards Commission, while recognising a need for new candidates to build a profile in a constituency, considers that expenditure on goods, property or services used for electoral purposes during a period of 2/3 months prior to polling day could reasonably be construed as intended to elicit support at the election for a candidate or political party. A record of expenditure would have to be maintained so that, if necessary, it could be accounted for by the relevant agent after the election. Once the three month period had expired in relation to a particular item of expenditure and the Dáil had still not been dissolved, the record in respect of that item would no longer require to be retained. Candidates would, therefore be required to have their election agents in place well in advance of the election. The Standards Commission is aware that this may be more onerous on candidates and election agents but is of the opinion, nevertheless, that this approach merits consideration and would generally be welcomed if it was to help achieve the intended purpose of this part of the Act - the limitation of election expenditure.

Back to contents