16/05/06 - Report on Exchequer Funding received by Political Parties for 2005

Part 2. Exchequer funding of political parties

Section 16 of the Act defines a "qualified party" as a political party which is registered in the Register of Political Parties to contest a Dáil election and whose candidates received not less than 2% of the total first preference votes obtained by all candidates at the most recent Dáil general election. Based on the result of the Dáil general election of 17 May 2002, six political parties, namely, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, The Labour Party, Progressive Democrats, Green Party and Sinn Féin are qualified to receive Exchequer funding under the Act.

In accordance with section 17, each qualified party receives a payment of €126,973. They also receive a proportion of a fund which increases in line with general pay increases in the civil service. During 2005, increases of 1.5% (from 1 June 2005) and 1.5% (from 1 December 2005) were applied to the fund. The fund currently stands at €4,374,000. The proportion of the fund payable to a qualified party is determined by expressing each qualified party's first preference votes as a proportion of the total first preference votes received by all qualified parties.

In accordance with Section 18, the funds received by qualified parties must be applied to "the general conduct and management of the party's affairs and the lawful pursuit by it of any of its objectives and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, any or all of the following purposes, namely -

(i)  the general administration of the party,
(ii)  research, education and training,
(iii) policy formulation, and
(iv) the co-ordination of the activities of the branches and members of the party."

The funding received is also deemed to include provision in respect of expenditure by qualified parties in relation to the promotion of participation by women and young persons in political activity.

Funding may not be applied to, or to recoup, election or referendum expenses.

Section 20 provides that the appropriate officer of each qualifying party must furnish to the Standards Commission an Exchequer Expenditure Statement stating that funding received in respect of the preceding year was applied to some or all of the purposes referred to in section 18 above, and indicating the actual matters to which the funding was applied, including the amounts applied to the promotion of participation by women and young persons in political activity. The Exchequer Expenditure Statement must be audited by a public auditor and a copy of the auditor's report must be furnished to the Standards Commission with the Exchequer Expenditure Statement.

The Act does not prescribe a statutory date by which the Exchequer Expenditure Statements/Public Auditors' Reports must be furnished to the Standards Commission. Section 19(4) of the Act, however, provides that no payment shall be made to a qualified party after 30 April in any year unless and until

(i)  the party has furnished to the Standards Commission an Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report and a Donation Statement and Statutory Declaration (required under section 24(1)(b) of the Act)

and

(ii)  the Standards Commission has furnished a copy of the above statements to the Minister for Finance and has certified that they have been completed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the legislation and guidelines published by the Standards Commission.

On 6 January 2006 the Standards Commission wrote to the appropriate officer of each of the six qualified political parties enclosing an Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report form (05/PP/EFS) for completion and return to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March 2006. This date was selected by the Standards Commission to coincide with the date by which political parties must furnish their Donation Statements/Statutory Declarations to the Standards Commission. Also, having regard to the fact that future payments can be delayed by virtue of section 19(4), it ensures that political parties have adequate time to furnish their Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report before 30 April 2006.

The deadline of 30 April 2006 was met in the case of the Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report furnished by all six qualified parties - see Part 3 of this report below.

A breakdown of payments received by qualified parties in respect of 2005 is provided at Table 1 below. Table 2 provides a breakdown of expenditure of the funding under the headings set out in section 18 of the Act.

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