Chapter 2 Appointment of Election Agents and National Agents

Election agents:

Each candidate at a Dáil by-election is required under section 28(2) of the Act to appoint an election agent for the purpose of incurring expenditure on the candidate's behalf at the election. A candidate may act as his/her own election agent. In such circumstances, the candidate will be subject to the provisions of the legislation both as a candidate and as an election agent.

Pursuant to section 28(4) of the Act a candidate may revoke the appointment of an election agent and, in accordance with section 28(5) of the Act, appoint another person to act as election agent.

The returning officer for each constituency is required under section 28(6)(b) of the Act to notify the Standards Commission of the names and addresses of the candidates standing for election in the constituency together with details of the election agents appointed by those candidates. Section 28 also provides that the returning officers for each constituency must inform the Standards Commission if they are notified by a candidate that the appointment of an election agent has been revoked and a new election agent appointed.

The Standards Commission wrote to the returning officers for Meath and Kildare North on 17 February 2005 requesting that they provide details of each candidate contesting the election in their respective constituencies and details of the election agents appointed by those candidates. In order to ensure that its guidelines were circulated as quickly as possible to all candidates and their election agents, the Standards Commission requested that this information be faxed or e-mailed to it as soon as possible after nominations for the by-elections closed.

National Agents:

Each political party with candidates contesting a Dáil by-election is required under section 28(1) of the Act to appoint a national agent for the purpose of incurring expenditure on the party's behalf at the election. The party must notify the Standards Commission of the name and office address of the national agent not later than the last day for receiving nominations at the by-election (23 February 2005). If a political party has not provided the relevant information by the last day for withdrawing nominations, the party's appropriate officer (appointed under section 71 of the Act) is deemed to have been appointed as the national agent. If no appropriate officer stands appointed, the leader of the party is deemed to have been appointed as the national agent.

Five of the six political parties which contested the by-elections notified the Standards Commission of the appointment of a national agent. As Fine Gael failed to notify the Standards Commission of the appointment of a national agent by the last day for withdrawing nominations, the party's appropriate officer was deemed to be appointed as its national agent.

As required under section 6(a) of the Act, the Standards Commission published in Iris Oifigiúil, on 1 March 2005, the names and addresses of the national agents appointed, or deemed to have been appointed, by each of the political parties.

The candidates, their election agents and the national agents of political parties are set out at Foreword to this report.