10/03/09 - Report to the Minister for the Environment on Third Parties and the Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon

Chapter 1 - Introduction

On 27 January 2009, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government requested the Standards Commission to prepare and submit to him a report setting out its experience of operating the third party provisions as they applied at recent referendums. This report deals with the Commission's experience of supervision of the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 1997, as amended, as they applied to third parties who campaigned at the referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. The report also gives a general account of the Standards Commission's supervision of these provisions of the Act. It sets out some of the difficulties which the Standards Commission has encountered and deals with concerns which have been expressed by some voluntary and other groups whose activities have been captured by the legislation.

Section 23C of the Act requires an individual or group (other than a registered political party or a candidate at an election) which accepts a contribution which is given for political p urposes and which exceeds €126.97 in value to register with the Standards Commission as a third party.

The provisions of the Act relating to third parties were introduced by the Electoral (Amendment) Act 2001 and came into effect on 1 January 2002. The Standards Commission reported to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann in March 2003 on the activities of third parties at the 2002 referendums on Abortion and on the Nice Treaty and on the activities of third parties during the Dáil and Seanad general elections of 2002. A report on compliance by third parties generally in 2002 and 2003 was also furnished to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann in October 2003. In its reports on the European elections of 2004, the Kildare North and Meath Dáil by-elections of 2005, and the Dáil general election of 2007 the Standards Commission also reported on the activities of third parties at these elections.

Details of the individuals or groups contacted by the Standards Commission since the commencement of the third party provisions of the Act (including individuals/groups contacted in relation to the recent referendum) and the result of these contacts are set out at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 of the report.

The Standards Commission has already carried out a review of the Electoral Acts (in 2003) in response to an invitation to do so from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. As part of that review and in subsequent annual reports, the Standards Commission has made a number of recommendations as to how the third party provisions of the Act might be improved. The Standards Commission is conscious of the fact that it is a matter for the Oireachtas to determine the nature and content of legislation. However, as the body with experience of supervising the legislation, the Standards Commission considers it appropriate that a report which highlights difficulties in supervising legislation should also offer some suggestions as to how the legislation might be improved. This report again contains some such suggestions.

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