1.1 Keeping a record of donations
It is the candidate who is required to comply with the requirements of the Act regarding the recording and disclosure of donations. It is important, therefore, that candidates keep a record of donations received in relation to the election for the purposes of furnishing a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission after the election. Candidates should know the name, address, description and postal address of the donor or the person on whose behalf the donation was made.
The candidate is also responsible for ensuring that donations accepted by him/her are not prohibited under the Act. This is particularly important where donations are received online. Where a candidate is accepting donations through a website he/she must ensure that he/she can properly identify the source of the donation and that he/she is not prohibited from accepting a donation from the donor. It is also important for disclosure purposes and for the purposes of adhering to the maximum acceptance limit that the candidate has a system in place which will aggregate all donations whether received online from the same donor (by credit card, laser card etc.) and/or received by other means.
1.2 What is a donation?
A donation is defined as meaning any contribution given for political purposes by any person, whether or not the person is a member of a political party and includes money, property or goods, free use of property or goods, free supply of services etc. Further detailed information on donations and political purposes can be found at Appendix 1.
Donations with a value, or donations from the same person with an aggregate value of more than €600 must be disclosed. Where the same person makes more than one donation to a candidate in relation to the election, the values of the donations must be aggregated and treated as a single donation for disclosure purposes.
If more than one member of the same family, or other group, makes donations to the same candidate, including where donations of money are made from a joint account in a financial institution, it must be clear that these are separate donations from each of the individuals involved. Otherwise, the donations must be aggregated and treated as a single donation for disclosure purposes and for the purposes of observing the maximum limit applying to the acceptance of donations. Similarly, if a company and any of its directors makes a donation to the same candidate, it must be clear that these are separate donations. In such circumstances the Standards Commission may look for evidence that the donations are from separate legal entities. In each case, the candidate must make whatever enquiries are necessary in order to be satisfied as to the position with regard to the donation.
A donation to a candidate also includes money given to the candidate by his/her political party.
A donation made to a candidate through an intermediary is deemed to be a donation made to the candidate.
A donation passed on to a party by a candidate is deemed to be a donation made to the party and not to the candidate. The candidate must, however, ensure that he/she receives a written acknowledgement of receipt of the donation from the party.
Where expenses are incurred on a candidate’s behalf by an individual or body other than a political party as defined in the Act and the expenses are borne by the individual/body the expenses may be regarded as a donation to the candidate.
1.3 What is not a donation?
There are a number of items which are not regarded as donations to a candidate. These are listed under Appendix 1. This list is not exhaustive and the Standards Commission should be consulted when any issue or query arises. The Standards Commission can be contacted at 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2 or sipo@sipo.gov.ie.
1.4 Opening and maintaining a political donations account
If a candidate receives a donation in any particular calendar year for political purposes, the value of which exceeds €100, he/she must open and maintain an account in a financial institution in the State, i.e., a political donations account. A credit union is not regarded as a "financial institution" for the purposes of the Act. The candidate must lodge that donation and any further such monetary donations, of whatever value, received by him/her to that account. The account should be separate from any personal account held by the candidate. The account should be in the candidate's name and he/she should be an authorised signatory on the account. All monies withdrawn from the account must be used for political purposes.
If a candidate already operates a political donations account it is not necessary to open a separate account specifically for the Seanad Bye election. All monetary donations, however, of whatever value, received in relation to the election must be lodged to the account.
It should be noted that a candidate who is elected to the Seanad will have an on-going requirement as a Member of Seanad Éireann to maintain his/her political donations account and will be required, on an annual basis, to furnish documentation relating to the account to the Standards Commission.