an “accounting unit” of a political party is a branch or other subsidiary organisation of the party which, in any particular year, receives a donation the value of which exceeds €126.97. The appropriate officer of a political party is required to provide the Standards Commission with the name and address of each accounting unit of the party, including the name of its “responsible person”. (The responsible person is the treasurer or any other person responsible for dealing with donations to the unit.) (Section 22(2)(aa) of the Electoral Act 1997, as amended)
‘civil partner’, in relation to a person, means a civil partner within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 but does not include a civil partner who is living separately and apart from the person” (Section 97(2) and Part One of the Schedule, Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010)
“For the purposes of this Act a civil partner is either of two persons of the same sex who are (a) parties to a civil partnership registration that has not been dissolved or the subject of a decree of nullity, or (b) parties to a legal relationship of a class that is the subject of an order made under section 5 that has not been dissolved or the subject of a decree of nullity” (Section 3, Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010)
“Any question whether a person is connected with another shall be determined in accordance with the following provisions of this paragraph (any provision that one person is connected with another person being taken to mean also that that other person is connected with the first-mentioned person) -
“has the meaning assigned to it by Section 157 of the Corporation Tax Act 1976, as amended, and any cognate words shall be construed accordingly” (section 1, Ethics in Public Office Act 1995). Section 157 of the Corporation Tax Act 1976, as amended, in turn refers to section 102 of that Act, which has subsequently been re-enacted in section 432 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, which provides -
“a person shall be taken to have control of a company if he exercises, or is able to exercise or is entitled to acquire control, whether direct or indirect, over the company’s affairs, and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words, if he possesses or is entitled to acquire-
“in relation to a public body, means a prescribed directorship of that body” (Section 2(1) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995)
“in relation to a public body, means a prescribed position of employment in that body” (Section 2(1) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995)
“means a director within the meaning of the Companies Acts 1963 to 1990, but includes, in the case of a public body that is not a company (within the meaning of the Companies Act 1963) and is specified in subparagraph (8), (9), (10), (11) or (12), or stands prescribed for the purposes of subparagraph (13), of paragraph 1 of the First Schedule, a person who is a member of it or a member of any board or other body that controls, manages or administers it, and any cognate words shall be construed accordingly”. (Section 2(1) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995)
a donation 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. An unincorporated body of persons includes a political party and any of its subsidiary organisations.] A donation can include
“A person or a connected person has a material interest in a matter if the consequence or effect -
concerning that matter may be to confer on, or withhold from, the person, or the connected person, a significant benefit without also conferring it on, or withholding it from, persons in general or a class of persons which is of significant size having regard to all the circumstances and of which the person or the connected person is a member”. (Section 2(3) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995) (NB. this definition applies other than in relation to a material interest of a member of the Oireachtas in Oireachtas proceedings where the provisions of section 7(3) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 apply.)
A Minister of the Government; a Minister of State; the Attorney General; the Ceann Comhairle; the Leas Ceann Comhairle; the Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann and the Leas Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann (Section 2(1) of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995)
“special adviser” has the meaning assigned to it by section 19 (1) of the 1995 Act, namely a person who -
and whose function or principal function as such a person is or was to provide advice or other assistance to or for the office holder (Section 19 of the Ethics in Public Office Act 1995) (A special adviser also includes a person appointed, by order of the Government, pursuant to section 11 of the Public Service Management Act 1997).
an act or an omission that is, or the circumstances of which are, such as to be inconsistent with the proper performance by the specified person of the functions of the office or position by reference to which he or she is such a person or with the maintenance of confidence in such performance by the general public, and the matter is one of significant public importance. (Section 4(1)(a) of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001)
an office holder or the holder of the office of Attorney General who is not a member of the Oireachtas; a special adviser; a designated director or a designated employee of a public body; a director or an employee of a public body. (Section 4(6)(a) of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001)
a “third party” is defined as any person, other than a political party or a candidate at an election, who accepts, in a particular year, a donation, the value of which exceeds €126.97. (A contribution given in support of a campaign at a referendum is regarded as a contribution for political purposes.) (Section 22(2)(aa) of the Electoral Act 1997, as amended)