2004 Donation Statements

Annual Donation Statements and Statutory Declarations, in respect of 2004, furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission by political parties pursuant to section 24 of the Electoral Act 1997

and

Annual Statements of Expenditure of Exchequer Funding and Auditors' Reports, in respect of 2004, furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission by qualified political parties pursuant to section 20 of the Electoral Act 1997

Report by the Standards in Public Office Commission to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann pursuant to section 4(1) of the Electoral Act 1997

Foreword

I am pleased to furnish this report to the Ceann Comhairle in accordance with section 4 (1) of the Electoral Act 1997 (the Act). The report relates to annual Donation Statements / Statutory Declarations, in respect of 2004, furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Standards Commission) by political parties pursuant to section 24 of the Act and, also in respect of 2004, annual Statements of Expenditure of Exchequer Funding / Public Auditors' Reports furnished to the Standards Commission by qualified political parties pursuant to section 20 of the Act.

This is the eighth year in which political parties have been required to prepare a statement of expenditure of funding received under the Act and to furnish details of donations received for political purposes. The Standards Commission welcomes the opportunity to place this information in the public domain. In terms of the effectiveness of the legislation, the fact that the information is required to be made available publicly is vitally important in ensuring that the principles of openness, accountability and transparency are central in the system of control and supervision of political funding that is now in place. As outlined in the report, the Standards Commission will facilitate dissemination of the information by posting the report in full on its website, www.sipo.gov.ie, and by making the material referred to in the report available at its offices for inspection and copying.

Justice Matthew P. Smith
Chairman

PART 2. Disclosure of donations by the appropriate officers of political parties

Section 24(1)(a) of the Act provides that the appropriate officer of a political party must furnish a Donation Statement to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March every year. The Donation Statement must show, in relation to the preceding calendar year, whether or not, during that year, the party received any donations exceeding €5,078.95 in value. For each such donation, the actual value and nature of the donation must be stated together with the name, address and a description of the donor. The Donation Statement must be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration to the effect that the Donation Statement is correct in every material respect and that all reasonable action has been taken in order to be satisfied as to its accuracy.

A political party means a party that is registered in the Register of Political Parties to contest a Dáil or European Parliament election. Section 71 of the Act provides that each political party must appoint an appropriate officer. Where no appropriate officer stands appointed at any given time, the leader of the party is deemed to be the appropriate officer. It is the responsibility of the appropriate officer to furnish to the Standards Commission the party's annual Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration.

In accordance with Section 22(2)(a), a donation to a political party means any contribution given for political purposes by any person, whether or not a member of a political party. (A person means an individual, a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons.)

A donation can include:

(i) a donation of money;
(ii) a donation of property or goods;
(iii) the free use of property or goods;
(iv) a free supply of services;
(v) the difference between the commercial price and the (lower) price charged for property, goods or services;
(vi) a donation received by way of a contribution made to the net profit from a fund-raising event.

Section 22(2)(c) provides that a donation made to a political party, whether made directly or through an intermediary, is deemed to be a donation to the party if it is made to party headquarters or to any branch or other subsidiary organisation of the party, to any candidate of the party at a local election or direct election, to any member of the party who is a member of a local authority, or to any officer, member or agent of the party or of any branch or other subsidiary organisation thereof.

Section 22(2)(c) also provides that a donation made to a TD, Senator or MEP will not be regarded as a donation to the person concerned if it is passed on to his or her political party and a written acknowledgement of the donation is received from the party. Such a donation will be deemed to have been made to the party.

Section 22(2)(d) provides that the values of donations received from the same person in the same year must be aggregated and, if the total value exceeds €5,078.95, the donations must be disclosed.

In accordance with sections 24(1)(a) and 24(3) of the Act, a Donation Statement furnished by a political party must be in a form directed by the Standards Commission. The Standards Commission produced a Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration form (04/PP/DS) for use in respect of the 2004 calendar year. A copy of the form was sent to the appropriate officer of each of the thirteen registered political parties on 25 February 2005. It was requested that the completed forms would be returned to the Standards Commission not later than the statutory deadline of 31 March 2005.

A Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration form was received from each of the 13 registered political parties. Details of the donations disclosed are provided in Tables 1 to 5 below.

PART 3. Prohibited donations

Section 23(1) of the Act provides that a political party must not accept, either directly or indirectly, an anonymous donation valued in excess of €126.97. An anonymous donation means a donation where the name and address of the donor are not known by the recipient. If such a donation is received, it is required to be notified and remitted (or its value remitted) to the Standards Commission not later than 14 days after its receipt.

Section 23A(1) provides that the maximum value of donations which a political party may accept from the same donor in the same year is €6,348.69. Where a donor makes more than one donation to the same party in the same year the values of the donations must be aggregated and the donations treated as a single donation.

Section 23A(2) provides that a political party must not accept a foreign donation. A foreign donation is a donation from:

(i) an individual (other than an Irish citizen) who resides outside the island of Ireland, or

(ii) a body corporate or unincorporated body of persons which does not keep an office in the island of Ireland from which one or more of its principal activities is directed.

Section 23A(5) provides that where a donation which is prohibited, because it is a foreign donation or because its value exceeds the prescribed limit, is received by a political party, the party must notify the Standards Commission within 14 days and remit the donation, or in the case of a monetary donation, that part which is over the limit, to the Standards Commission. As an alternative to notifying and remitting the donation to the Standards Commission, a political party may, within 14 days, return the donation, or in the case of a monetary donation, that part which is over the limit, to the donor and keep a written record of that return for the purpose of it being furnished to the Standards Commission, if required.

The appropriate officer of the Socialist Party advised the Standards Commission that, in completing the party's Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration form, it was noted that the aggregate value of donations received by the party from one of its elected representatives, Ms. Clare Daly, had exceeded the maximum prescribed limit of €6,348.69. Monetary donations totalling €7,200 had been received from Ms. Daly during 2004. The donations were made in three instalments, the last of which was received on 11 June 2004. A refund of €900 was made to Ms. Daly on 25 March 2005. Although the refund should have been made within 14 days, the Standards Commission did not take any further action in the matter.

The Standards Commission was not notified of receipt of any anonymous donations or any foreign donations.

PART 4. Political donations accounts

Section 23B(1) of the Act provides that if a political party receives a monetary donation in excess of €126.97 it must open and maintain an account in a financial institution in the State and must lodge that donation and any further monetary donations, of whatever value, to that account. This requirement commenced with effect from 1 January 2002.

In accordance with section 23B(3), a Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration furnished to the Standards Commission by a political party which was required to open a political donations account, must be accompanied by a statement provided by the financial institution in which the account was opened. The statement from the financial institution must specify all transactions that have taken place in relation to the account during the year to which the Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration relates.

The Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration must also be accompanied by a Certificate, in a form directed by the Standards Commission, and signed by an officer of the political party, confirming that all monetary donations received during the year were lodged to the account and that all amounts debited from the account were used for political purposes. The Certificate is required to be supported by a separate Statutory Declaration. The Standards Commission produced a Certificate of Monetary Donations / Statutory Declaration form (04/PP/CMD) for use in respect of the 2004 calendar year. The form was enclosed with the Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration form that issued to appropriate officers of political parties on 25 February 2005.

The Standards Commission was conscious of the fact that the political donations accounts of some of the smaller political parties might not have been active during 2004. Accordingly, a political party whose political donations account was not active during 2004 was required only to state this on the Certificate of Monetary Donations / Statutory Declaration form and was not required to complete the Statutory Declaration or to forward a copy of a bank statement for 2004.

A Certificate of Monetary Donations / Statutory Declaration form was received from 12 of the 13 political parties. A form was not received from The Workers Party. On the basis that a Certificate of Monetary Donations form has never been received from this party, the Standards Commission assumes that The Workers Party has not received a monetary donation exceeding €127 in value since the commencement, on 1 January 2002, of the relevant part of the legislation.

PART 5: Exchequer funding of political parties

The Act provides for the payment of Exchequer funding to qualified 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 plus a proportion of a fund not exceeding €3,809,214 (IR£3m was the amount originally provided for in the Act). 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.

Section 17 also provides for the fund to increase in line with general pay increases in the civil service. During 2004, increases of 3% (from 1 January 2004), 2% (from 1 July 2004) and 2% (from 1 December 2004) were applied to the fund. The fund currently stands at €4.245m.

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":

(1) general administration of the party;
(2) research, education and training;
(3) policy formulation, and
(4) co-ordination of the activities of 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 political 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;

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 the guidelines published by the Standards Commission.

On 25 February 2005 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 (04/PP/EFS) for completion and return to the Standards Commission not later than 31 March 2005. 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 2005.

The deadline of 30 April 2005 was met in the case of the Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report furnished by five of the six qualified parties - see Part 6 of this report below.

It was necessary to write to the appropriate officers of Fine Gael and the Labour Party seeking clarification in relation to certain information contained in their respective Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report. The relevant information was subsequently provided.

A breakdown of payments received by qualified parties in respect of 2004 is provided at Table 6 below. Table 7 provides a breakdown of expenditure of the funding under the headings set out in section 18 of the Act.

PART 6. Furnishing of statutory documentation to the Minister for Finance

The Standards Commission wrote to the Minister for Finance on 10 May 2005 informing him that a correctly completed Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration had been received from each of the six qualified parties. He was also informed that a correctly completed Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report had been received from five of the six qualified parties and that an Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report had not been received from the appropriate officer of Fianna Fáil.

The Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report from the Appropriate Officer of Fianna Fáil was received on 26 May 2005. The Minister was informed accordingly.

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 and the Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration received from each of the qualified political parties.

PART 7. Laying of material before the Houses of the Oireachtas

As provided for in section 24(7)(a) and section 20(3) of the Act, the Standards Commission has, today, laid the Donation Statements / Statutory Declarations and the Exchequer Expenditure Statements / Public Auditors' Reports furnished by qualified political parties before each House of the Oireachtas.

PART 8. Public inspection of statutory documentation

In accordance with Section 73 of the Act, the Standards Commission must retain at its offices, for a period of three years, every Donation Statement / Statutory Declaration and every Exchequer Expenditure Statement / Public Auditor's Report furnished to it and make these documents available to the public for inspection and copying.

The Donation Statements / Statutory Declarations and Exchequer Expenditure Statements / Public Auditors' Reports furnished to the Standards Commission are available for inspection and copying at the offices of the Standards Commission at 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2. The information contained in the documents is also available, in summary form, on the website of the Standards Commission www.sipo.gov.ie

Tables detailing Donations disclosed by Political Parties (2004)

Table 1 Disclosure of donations received by political parties in 2004

Table 2 List of donations disclosed by Fianna Fáil

Table 3 List of donations disclosed by Sinn Féin

Table 4 List of donations disclosed by the Green Party

Table 5 List of donations disclosed by the Socialist Party

Table 6 Exchequer funding of qualified political parties under the Electoral Acts in respect of 2004

Table 7 Spending by political parties of Exchequer funding received under the Electoral Acts in respect of 2004

(The letters in the first row of this Table represent the headings below under which expenditure is permitted by section 18 of the Electoral Acts.)

(a) general administration of the party
(b) research, education and training
(c) policy formulation
(d) co-ordination of the activities of branches and members of the party
(e) promotion of participation of women
(f) promotion of participation of young people

Table 1A Details of funding available to the Parliamentary Leaders of Qualified Political Parties under the Party Leaders Allowance during 2004

Table 2A Detailed breakdown of expenditure during 2004 of funding received by the Parliamentary Leaders of Qualified Political Parties under the Party Leaders Allowance

(The letters in the first column of this Table represent the headings below under which expenditure is permitted by the Party Leaders Allowance legislation.)

(a) the general administration of the parliamentary activities of a qualifying party,

(b) the provision of technical or specialist advice likely to be required in connection with legislative proposals or potential parliamentary initiatives,

(c) research and training,

(d) policy formulation,

(e) the provision of consultant services, including the engagement of public relations services,

(f) polling or public attitude sampling in connection with parliamentary debates or initiatives,

(g) the purchase of support services for a parliamentary party from the party,

(h) the payment to a parliamentary leader of any salary or honorarium in respect of duties arising from his or her activities as such leader as distinct from those of a member of Dáil Éireann or a holder of a Ministerial office,

(i) the payment to another person of any salary or honorarium in respect of duties arising from the person's activities in a parliamentary party,

(j) the provision for, or recoupment of, transport and personal expenditure incurred by a parliamentary leader, officers or a parliamentary party spokesperson as a result of their parliamentary party function,

(k) entertainment.

Table 3A Overall total Exchequer funding of qualified political parties in 2004 under the Electoral Acts and the Party Leaders Allowance