2013 Expenditure of the Party Leaders Allowance

Party Leaders Allowance

Statements of Expenditure and Public Auditors' Reports,
in respect of 2013, furnished to the
Standards in Public Office Commission,
pursuant to Section 1.10(11)(a) and Section 1.10(11)(d)
of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices)
(Amendment) Act 2001

 
Report to the Minister for Finance
in accordance with Section 1.(10)(11)(e) of the
Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices)
(Amendment) Act 2001

Standards in Public Office Commission
18 Lower Leeson Street
Dublin 2

Telephone : (01) 6395666
Fax : (01) 6395684
E-Mail: sipo@sipo.gov.ie
Website:www.sipo.gov.ie
Twitter:  @SIPOCIreland

May 2014

The Party Leaders Allowance returns can be viewed here.

 Foreword

 I am pleased to furnish this report to the Minister for Finance in accordance with section 1.10(11)(e)(iii) of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001. The Statements of Expenditure and Public Auditors' Reports in respect of 2013 referred to in the report were furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission pursuant to sections 1.10(11)(a) and 1.10(11)(d) of the Act. 

____________________

Justice Daniel O’Keeffe
Chairman

May 2014

1       Introduction

1.1       The Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001 provides for the payment of an annual allowance to the parliamentary leader of a qualifying party in relation to expenses arising from the parliamentary activities, including research, of the party. This allowance is known as the Party Leaders Allowance. The Act also provides that the allowance shall not be subject to income tax.

1.2       A qualifying party is defined in the Act as a political party, registered in the Register of Political Parties, which contested the last preceding general election or any subsequent bye-elections and which had at least one member elected to Dáil Éireann or elected or nominated to Seanad Éireann. Following the general election of 2011, the parliamentary leaders of six political parties qualified to receive the allowance.

1.3       This report concerns the Statements of Expenditure of the Party Leaders Allowance for the year 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013 furnished to the Standards Commission by the parliamentary leaders of the six political parties qualified to receive the allowance during 2013.

1.4       The allowance is calculated for each parliamentary leader by reference to the number of members of the party elected to Dáil Éireann or elected or nominated to Seanad Éireann. If a qualifying party forms part of the Government, then the combined allowances in respect of its members of the Dáil only is reduced by one-third. This reduction applied to the allowance received in 2013 by Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

1.5       Non-party members elected to Dáil and Seanad Éireann also receive funding under the Party Leaders Allowance legislation. The amount payable to each such non-party member of Dáil Éireann during 2013 was €41,152 and the amount payable to each non-party member of Seanad Éireann during the same period was €23,383. Non-party members are not required, however, to provide a Statement of Expenditure of the allowance to the Standards Commission, or to any other authority. Paragraph 3.1 refers to a recent change to this arrangement.

1.6       The Standards Commission has no role in the allocation of this allowance, rather it has a supervisory role in relation to expenditure of the allowance. It must receive and consider statements of expenditure of the allowance and to consult, if necessary, with the parliamentary party leaders on matters contained in their statements. The Standards Commission must furnish a report to the Minister for Finance on the statements received by it and lay a copy of its report before the Houses of the Oireachtas. It must also facilitate the inspection and copying of the statements furnished to it.

2       Statements of Expenditure furnished by the Party Leaders

            Background

2.1       Section 1.10(11) of the Act provides that parliamentary party leaders must prepare, or cause to be prepared, not more than 120 days after the end of the financial year in which an allowance has been paid, a statement of any expenditure from the allowance. The statement must be audited by a public auditor and must be submitted with the auditor's report to the Standards Commission within this 120 day period. Section 1.10(12)(a) of the Act provides that an allowance shall not be paid unless the statement and auditor's report have been received by the Standards Commission not more than 120 days after the end of the financial year to which the statement and auditor's report relate.

2.2      The party leaders required to furnish a statement to the Standards Commission were:

·         Mr Enda Kenny, TD, Fine Gael,

·         Mr Eamon Gilmore, TD, The Labour Party,

·         Mr Micheál Martin, TD, Fianna Fáil,

·         Mr Gerry Adams, TD, Sinn Féin,

·         Mr Richard Boyd Barrett, TD, People before Profit Alliance and

·         Mr Joe Higgins, TD, The Socialist Party.

2.3       A Statement of Expenditure/Public Auditor's Report was received by the Standards Commission from the parliamentary leaders of the six qualifying parties within the specified period

2.4       Section 1.10(11)(e) of the Act provides that the Standards Commission must consider each statement and auditor's report furnished to it and, if necessary, consult with the relevant  parliamentary leader on any matter contained in a statement.

2.5       In accordance with the Act, the funding received may not be applied to, or be used to recoup, election or referendum expenses. The Commission requires parliamentary party leaders to state on their Statement of Expenditure of the Party Leaders Allowance that the allowance has not been used for electoral or referendum purposes. Each of the parliamentary party leaders has stated that the allowance was not used for electoral or referendum purposes.

2.6       The Standards Commission must furnish a report to the Minister for Finance on the statements and auditors' reports received indicating:

(i)        whether the statements and auditors' reports have been submitted within the specified period,

(ii)       whether any expenditure is disclosed which does not comply with subsection 1(10)(5) of the Act,

(iii)      whether the statements are adequate, or

(iv)      whether the statements are inappropriate.

2.7       The Standards Commission, having considered the Statements of Expenditure/Public Auditors' Reports, is now satisfied that:

(i)        the Statements of Expenditure were received within the specified period,

(ii)       the Statements of Expenditure do not disclose any expenditure which does not comply with section 1.10(5) of the Act,

(iii)      the Statements of Expenditure are adequate and

(iv)      the Statements of Expenditure are not inappropriate.

2.8       The Standards Commission is required to lay a copy of its report to the Minister for Finance before each House of the Oireachtas. A copy of the statements and auditors' reports received must be retained by the Standards Commission and be made available for public inspection and copying. The Statements of Expenditure/Public Auditors' Reports furnished to the Standards Commission may be inspected and copied by members of the public at the offices of the Standards Commission, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2. The information is also available at www.sipo.gov.ie.

2.9      Details of the allowances paid to the parliamentary leaders are shown in Table 1 of the Appendix.

2.10     Table 2 of the Appendix shows the breakdown given by each political party of expenditure of the allowance during 2013.

3        Party Leaders Allowance - rates of payment during 2013

3.1       Section 11A of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 (as inserted by the Ministerial, Parliamentary and Judicial Offices and Oireachtas Members (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001) provides that the allowance shall increase in line with general Civil Service pay increases. There was no change in the Party Leaders Allowance during 2013. The Act is silent in relation to general pay reductions in the civil service. In December 2012 in the context of the Expenditure Estimates for 2013, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced a 10% reduction to be applied to the rates of the Party Leaders Allowance. The Minister also declared his intention to extend the audit provisions to non-party members and to provide for an oversight role for the Commission in relation to this. The Oireachtas (Ministerial and parliamentary Offices)(Amendment) Act 2014 was recently enacted by the Oireachtas. The provisions of the Act will come into effect from 1 July 2014.

3.2       Section 8A of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 1938 (as inserted by section 11 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act 1973) provides that the Government may, by order, increase the allowance. (Increases made by an order of the Government generally reflect increases awarded under Reports of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector.) During 2013, no such increases to the allowance were made by Ministerial Order.

3.3       As of 31 December 2013, therefore, the allowance paid to parliamentary party leaders in respect of members of Dáil Éireann was as follows –

·         €71,520 per member for each of the first 10 members elected,

·         €57,214 per member for each member elected from 11 to 30 members and

·         €28,616 for each member elected over 30 members.   

 3.4      As of 31 December 2013, the allowance paid to parliamentary party leaders in respect of members of the Seanad was -

·         €46,766 per member elected or nominated for each of the first five members and

·         €23,383 for each member elected or nominated over 5 members.

3.5       As of 31 December 2013, elected non-party members of Dáil Éireann received an allowance of €41,152 while elected non-party members of Seanad Éireann received an allowance of €23,383. The funding available to non-party members of the Dáil during 2013 amounted to a total of €617,279 and to non-party members of the Seanad during 2013 amounted to a total of €261,110. Until the legislation referred to at 3.1 comes into effect, non-party members of Dáil or Seanad Éireann are not required to furnish to the Standards Commission a Statement of Expenditure in relation to the allowance.

APPENDIX

Table 1

Details of funding available to the Parliamentary Leaders of Qualified Political Parties under the Party Leaders Allowance during 2013

Table 2

Breakdown given by each political party of expenditure of the allowance in 2013

Categories of expenditure

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

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

(3)     research and training,

(4)     policy formulation,

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

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

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

(8)     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,

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

(10)   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,

(11)   entertainment.