21/01/05 - Report re presidential election 2004

4. Disclosure of donations

Section 46 of the Act defines a donation to a candidate at a presidential election as meaning any contribution given by any person to a candidate at a presidential election for the purpose of promoting the election of the candidate at the election or otherwise affecting the outcome of that election. A donation to a candidate at a presidential election includes:

(i) a donation of money (including money given by a political party to a candidate at the election);
(ii) a donation of property or goods;
(iii) the free use of property or goods;
(iv) a free supply of services;
(v) the difference between the commercial price and the (lower) price charged for property, goods or services;
(vi) a donation received by way of a contribution made to the net profit from a fund-raising event organised for the benefit of a candidate.

There are a number of items provided for in section 46 of the Act which are not regarded as a donation to a candidate including:

- a free service provided by an individual (where the service provided is not part of the person's business or profession);
- a service provided at an election by an individual in the employment of a political party;
- election expenses incurred by a political party on behalf of a candidate at a presidential election.

Not later than the 56th day after polling day (17 December 2004), the presidential election agent must furnish to the Standards Commission a Donation Statement indicating whether, in relation to the election, the candidate received a donation valued in excess of €634.87. The name, description and postal address of the person by, or on whose behalf, a donation was made must be disclosed in the Donation Statement.

If the same person makes more than one donation to the same candidate in relation to the presidential election, the values of the donations must be aggregated and treated as a single donation for the purposes of observing both the disclosure and the maximum acceptance limits (see Paragraph 5 below) applying to donations made to candidates at a presidential election.

A donation made to a candidate through an intermediary, agent or other person acting for the candidate is deemed to be a donation made to the candidate.

As stated in Paragraph 3 above, a correctly completed Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration form was received from Mr. Barrett on 15 December 2004. The Donation Statement confirms that the value of donations received by Mrs. McAleese exceeded the election expenses incurred at the election. A refund (which in each case represents 66% of the original value of the donation received) was made to the donors after the payment of expenses. Details of the donations received by Mrs. McAleese and the amounts returned to donors are outlined in Appendix A to this report.

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