26/03/03 - Report on involvement by individuals and groups in the referenda on abortion and the Nice Treaty and the Dáil general election

Donations

The fact that a group or an individual incurred expenditure in the course of either the referendum on abortion campaign, the general election campaign or the Nice Treaty referendum campaign does not necessarily mean that they are a third party as defined in the legislation. If they received a donation exceeding €126.97, for political purposes, as defined earlier in this report, they are a third party and the requirement to register applies. Otherwise they are not a third party. The Standards Commission relies, in the main, on voluntary registration by those who are required to do so. It will also have regard to other sources including media reports and information about donations which may be made available by donors or other interested parties. It is possible that groups or individuals, apart from those mentioned in this report, received donations valued in excess of €126.97 in relation to one or more of the campaigns referred to and did not register with the Standards Commission. This failure to register could be for any number of reasons including complete disregard for the legislation, ignorance of the existence of the legislation or, perhaps, a view that receipt by them of donations, if not disclosed by them, may not come to the attention of the Standards Commission.

It is an offence to fail to register as a third party. While some groups have not replied to correspondence from the Standards Commission, it is not possible, at this point, to say that they have committed an offence under section 25(1)(e) of the 1997 Act as no evidence is available which would confirm that they received a donation of money, property, goods or services exceeding in value €126.97.

Section 4(4) of the 1997 Act empowers the Standards Commission to make such inquiries as it considers appropriate and to require any person to furnish any information, document or thing in the possession or procurement of the person which the Standards Commission may require for the purposes of its duties under the legislation.

The legislation provides that proceedings for an offence shall not be instituted except by, or with the consent of, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Before the Standards Commission could refer a file to the DPP, it would need some evidence that an offence had been committed, i.e. that a person or group had received a donation for political purposes valued in excess of €126.97 and had not registered with the Standards Commission. Also, in the case of a group, it would be necessary to identity the responsible person, as defined in the legislation, given that it is the responsible person who would be prosecuted in relation to the offence.

The responsible person of all of those third parties which have, or will, register with the Standards Commission and which have received a monetary donation exceeding €126.97, must, by 31 March 2003, furnish to the Standards Commission a statement provided by the financial institution where the third party has opened the political donations account, specifying the transactions which have taken place in relation to the account during the preceding year together with a certificate signed by the responsible person stating that all monetary donations received by the third party during the preceding year were lodged to the said account and all amounts debited from the account were used for political purposes. The certificate must be accompanied by a statutory declaration that, to the best of the person's knowledge and belief, the certificate is correct in every material respect and that the person has taken all reasonable action in order to be satisfied as to the accuracy of the certificate. These certificates, statements and statutory declarations will not be for public display.

It is an offence to fail to furnish a certificate, statement or statutory declaration. The penalty is a fine of up to €1,269.74 with a further fine of up to €126.97 per day, for every day after a conviction on which the material is still outstanding. However, there is no offence or penalty for failure by a third party to actually open an account in a financial institution as required by the legislation.

The Standards Commission will prepare and publish a report on certificates, statements and statutory declarations after 31 March 2003 when the relevant material has been received and considered.

Back to contents