21/06/07 - Report on Exchequer Funding received by Political Parties for 2006

Part 4 - Furnishing of Statements of Expenditure of Exchequer Funding and Auditors' Reports

Section 20 of the Act provides that the appropriate officer of each qualifyied 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 8 March 2007 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 (06/PP/EFS) for completion and return to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March 2007. 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 2007.

The deadline of 30 April 2007 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. Table 2 below provides a breakdown of expenditure of the funding under the headings set out in section 18 of the Act.

The Standards Commission informed the Department of Finance on 24 May 2007 that a correctly completed Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report and Donation Statement had been received from the six qualified parties.

As provided for in section 19(4) of the Act, the Standards Commission has now furnished to the Minister for Finance a copy of the Exchequer Expenditure Statement/Public Auditor's Report from each of the qualified political parties.

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