The tables in the Appendices provide summaries of donations disclosed. The individual donation statements are on the Commission's website - www.sipo.ie.
A total of 259 Members or former Members were required to furnish donation statements in respect of 2016, as follows –
- 158 TDs
- 60 Senators
- 11 MEPs
- 19 Former TDs
- 11 Former Senators
Late Filing of Returns
All Members are obliged to furnish their donation statements by 31 January 2017. 246 Members had fully complied with the statutory requirements by the 31 January deadline, 13 were late. All 259 members complied by 25 February 2017.
Sections 25(1)(c) and 25(2)(c) of the Act provide that a Member who fails to return the donation statement/statutory declaration and certificate of monetary donations/statutory declaration, along with a statement from a financial institution by 31 January shall be guilty of an offence. Where a person is guilty of an offence under this section, the person shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €2,500 and to an on-going fine not exceeding €500 per day for each day, after a conviction, on which the statutory returns are still outstanding.
As all are in substantive compliance no files were sent to An Garda Siochána for prosecution.
Sections 23A(1)(i) and (ii) of the Act provide that where a donation exceeding the permissible limit is received then the donation must, within fourteen days of receipt, be returned to the donor or, if it is a monetary donation, the part of it exceeding the limit must be returned to the donor. A written record of the return must be kept for the purpose of it being furnished to the Standards Commission, if required; or the recipient of the donation must, within fourteen days of receipt, notify the Standards Commission of receipt of the donation and remit the donation or the value thereof to the Standards Commission. In the case of a monetary donation, the part of it exceeding the limit must be remitted.
The table in Appendix 1 shows that net donations with a total value of €72,969.12 were disclosed by Members in respect of 2016. The donation statements furnished by Minister Paschal Donohoe, TD, Mr. Martin Ferris, TD, Mr Alan Kelly, TD, Minister Denis Naughten, TD, and, Mr Fergus O’Dowd, TD, disclosed donations from persons who were not resident in the island of Ireland. The Members confirmed that the donors in question are Irish citizens as required by the legislation.
In addition to donations disclosed in respect of 2016 returns, 6 Members previously disclosed €9,084 in their unsuccessful donation statements in relation to their candidacy in respect of the 2016 General Election.