11/11/04 - Report to Ceann Comhairle re European elections of 11 June 2004

Chapter 8 Correspondence with newspapers, etc., regarding section 31(10) of the Electoral Acts

Section 31(10) of the Electoral Acts provides that the publisher of a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication shall not publish any advertisement or notice in relation to the European election which purports to promote or oppose, directly or indirectly, the interests of a political party or a candidate at the election, unless requested to do so by either:

the national agent of a political party, or a person authorised in writing by such agent,
a candidate at the election, his/her election agent or a person authorised in writing by the candidate or agent, or
an "other person" who produces to the publisher a certificate from the Standards Commission confirming that he/she has complied with the provisions of section 31(7) of the Act.

It is an offence for the publisher of a newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication to fail to comply with the requirements of section 31(10).

On 22 April 2004, the Standards Commission wrote to the publishers of over 100 national and local newspapers and to the publishers of a number of magazines and other periodical publications informing them that the provisions of Section 31(10) of the Electoral Acts would apply at the European election. The Standards Commission is satisfied that the majority of publishers of newspapers, etc., complied with the requirements of section 31(10).

It was, however, necessary for the Standards Commission to correspond further with the publishers of The Clare Champion. As stated in Chapter 7 above, the Standards Commission was of the view that advertisements which appeared in that newspaper on 21 and 28 May 2004 on behalf of Ennis General Hospital Development Committee (EGHDC) constituted election spending, in that they sought to influence the outcome of the European election. This body had not, at the time, notified the Standards Commission of its intention to incur expenditure at the election and consequently the Standards Commission had not issued a certificate of compliance (with section 31(7)) to it.

The Standards Commission wrote to the editor of The Clare Champion on the matter. A reply from the paper's Advertising Manager was received on 14 June 2004. In his reply the Advertising Manager stated that EGHDC includes people of all political parties and was campaigning on what is regarded as a local issue. In view of this and the fact that the advertisements did not specifically refer to any European election candidate, he did not consider, when accepting the advertisements, that they would contravene the provisions of section 31(10). Having reviewed the matter, and being mindful of the fact that the publishers had not intentionally contravened the provisions of section 31(10) of the Electoral Acts, the Standards Commission decided not to take any further action.

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