Political Party Donations 2014

Report to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann pursuant to section 4(1) of the Electoral Act 1997

Standards in Public Office Commission 18 Lower Leeson Street 2

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

June 2015

Contents

Foreword

Part 1 Introduction

Part 2 Donations disclosed by political parties

Part 3 Accounting Units

Part 4 Donor Statements

Part 5 Publication of Statutory Documentation

Appendix Table 1: Summary of donations disclosed by political parties for 2014

Table 2: Details of donations disclosed by political parties for 2014

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Foreword

I am pleased to furnish this report to the in accordance with section 4(1) of the Electoral Act 1997, as amended (the Act). The report relates to annual Donation Statements/Statutory Declarations, in respect of 2014, furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission by political parties pursuant to section 24 of the Act.

______Justice Daniel O’Keeffe Chairman

June 2015

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Part 1 Introduction

Not later than 31 March each year, political parties are required by section 24(1)(b) of the Act to furnish a Donation Statement covering the previous calendar year to the Standards Commission. During 2014 there were 18 political parties registered to contest Dáil or European elections. These 18 parties were obliged to furnish a Donation Statement for 2014 to the Standards Commission. Section 4(1) of the Act requires the Standards Commission to consider every Donation Statement furnished to it and where it considers it appropriate to do so, to furnish a report in writing to the Chairman of Dáil Éireann (Ceann Comhairle) on any matter arising.

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Part 2 Donations disclosed by political parties

Section 24(1)(b) of the Act provides that a donation statement is a written statement, in a form directed by the Commission, signed by an officer of the political party stating that a donation, exceeding €1,500, had been received during the preceding year and stating in respect of each such donation: • the aggregate value of the donations and • the name, description and postal address of the person by or on whose behalf the donation was made. The maximum value of donations which a political party can accept from the same person in the same calendar year is €2,500.

Amount of donations disclosed by political parties

United Left received a donation of €3,225 which was in excess of the maximum permitted amount but the excess donation of €725 was returned to the donor and documentary evidence of this was also submitted to the Standards Commission.

The total value of donations disclosed by parties during 2014 was €166,392. Tables 1 and 2 of the Appendix show in detail the donations disclosed by political parties for 2014. A summary of the donations disclosed is shown below:

Total Donations disclosed Party € Anti - Austerity Alliance 13,400 102,567 3,600 People before Profit Alliance 2,500 Sinn Féin 1,520 Stop the Water Tax – Socialist Party 30,405 The 5,000 United Left 2,500 Workers and Unemployed Action 4,900 Total 166,392

Timeliness of political party returns

Under section 25 of the Act, it is an offence for the appropriate officer of a political party to fail to furnish a Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration and Certificate of Monetary Donations/Statutory Declaration to the Standards Commission by the specified date. The deadline for furnishing the required documentation was Tuesday 31 March 2015. Fourteen of the eighteen political parties required to furnish a Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration to the Commission did so by 1 April 2015.

The Workers Party furnished the required documentation on 17 April 2015, the Independents for Equality on 23 April 2015 and the Communist Party of Ireland on 27 April 2015. Direct Democracy Ireland has not yet submitted the required statutory documentation.

The Standards Commission referred a file to the Gardaí on the failure of Direct Democracy Ireland to comply with the statutory requirements on 1 May 2015.

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Part 3 Accounting Units

Accounting Units

An “accounting unit” is defined in section 22(2)(aa) of the Act as a branch or other subsidiary organisation of a political party which in any particular year receives a donation the value of which exceeds €100.

Responsible Person

Section 22(2)(aa) also provides that the “responsible person” in relation to an accounting unit, means the treasurer or any other person responsible for dealing with donations to the unit.

Political Donations Account

An accounting unit, on receipt of a monetary donation in excess of €100, must open and maintain a political donations account in a financial institution in the State and that donation and any further donations received must be lodged to that account [Section 23B(1)]. An “account” is specified in Section 22(2)(aa) as an account in an institution in the State for the purpose of crediting and debiting money received in respect of donations.

Certificate of Monetary Donations

The responsible person must, by 31 March each year, as required by Section 23B(5), furnish to the Standards Commission: • a statement from the financial institution where the political donations account was opened specifying the transactions that have taken place in relation to the account during the preceding year (bank statement), and • a certificate, signed by him/her, stating that all monetary donations received during the preceding year were lodged to the account and that all amounts debited from the account were used for political purposes, and • a statutory declaration, signed by him/her, that, to the best of the responsible person's knowledge and belief, the certificate is correct in every material respect and that all reasonable action has been taken in order to satisfy him/herself as to the accuracy of the certificate. The statutory declaration must be witnessed by a person who is either a practising solicitor, a commissioner for oaths, a peace commissioner or a notary public. (The certificate and statutory declaration is referred to as the Certificate of Monetary Donations.)

It is an offence, under Section 25(1)(c) of the Act, for the responsible person of an accounting unit to fail to comply with this requirement.

Timeliness of accounting unit returns for 2014

As set out above the responsible person of an accounting unit must, by 31 March each year, furnish a statement from the financial institution in which the political donations account is held together with the Certificate of Monetary Donations, to the Standards Commission. Only a small percentage of accounting units complied with their statutory deadline in this regard, as the following table shows:

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Table of Accounting Units returns received in respect of 2014

Returns Received before Returns Received After Political Party deadline deadline Anti – Austerity Alliance 3 6 Catholic Democrats 0 1 Fianna Fáil 18 20 Fine Gael 13 40 Fís Nua 0 1 Green Party 10 8 Independents for Equality Movement 0 1 People before Profit Alliance 0 2 Sinn Féin 7 8 The Labour Party 14 23 United Left 1 0 Total 66 110

It is a matter of regret that some accounting units continue to fail to cooperate with the Commission and only comply with their statutory obligations once the matter is about to be referred to the Gardaí.

Funds held by accounting units in 2014

Accounting units are not required to submit a donation statement to the Commission. Thus, the Commission cannot with certainty ascertain the provenance of the monies held in the accounting units’ political donations accounts. An examination of the bank account statements submitted indicates that the funds appear to be made up of donations, monies received on foot of fund-raising activities and transfers of money from party headquarters. It is understood that the transfer of funds from party headquarters usually arises from accounting units being allocated a share of the proceeds of a national draw which is in proportion to the number of tickets that the particular accounting unit sold.

As a consequence of section 23(B)(8) of the Act, details of Certificates of Monetary Donations and bank statements furnished to the Standards Commission by political parties and their accounting units are not laid before the Houses of the nor put on public display. However, the Commission, having analysed the returns for 2014 submitted to it, has decided to publish aggregate figures for those political parties with a significant number of accounting units. This is to illustrate the need for further refinement of existing legislation to ensure that a reasonably accurate picture of political party finances is available to the public.

The table below gives details of the position with regard to the number of accounting units of the larger parties from which the Standards Commission received returns for 2014. At the time of writing some 17 accounting units had failed to submit complete bank statements to the Commission and the table below does not show the total amount of funds held by all accounting units. The Commission is in continuing correspondence with those accounting units that have failed to furnish complete documentation.

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No of Opening bank Year end bank accounting Political Party (total no of balance (of all balance (of all unit bank accounting units) returns received) * returns received) * statements € € received Anti - Austerity Alliance (9) 8 1,073 1,674 Fianna Fáíl (38) 36 346,216 187,169 Fine Gael (53) 48 519,063 314,357 Green Party (18) 14 44,529 32,357 Sinn Féin (15) 12 2,618 3,914 The Labour Party (37) 35 130,358 82,934 Others (6) 6 7,071 2,499 Total (176) 159 1,050,928 624,904 *Recorded from bank Statements

Part 4 Donor Statements

Section 24(1A) of the Act provides that an individual must furnish a Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration to the Standards Commission, if he/she, in a particular year, makes donations exceeding €1,500 in aggregate value to two or more persons who were members of the same political party when the donations were made, or to a political party, and to one or more of its members. The Donation Statement must give details of the donations and the persons to whom they were made and must be furnished by 31 January of the following year.

If a donor does not intend to comply with this requirement and a Party, Member or candidate at an election is aware of this, he/she is prohibited from accepting a donation from that individual. If such a donation is received, the Standards Commission must be notified within 14 days and the donation or its value remitted to the Standards Commission.

Seven Donation Statements from individual donors were received in respect of 2014. Details of the donations disclosed are contained in Appendix II of the Commission’s report on Members’ 2014 Donation Statements and Statutory Declarations which was published in March 2015 and is available on the Commission’s website www.sipo.gov.ie

Part 5 Publication of Statutory Documentation

In accordance with section 24(7)(a) of the Act, the Standards Commission has today laid the Donation Statements/Statutory Declarations furnished by political parties before each House of the Oireachtas.

In accordance with section 73 of the Act, the Standards Commission has made the Donation Statements/Statutory Declarations available for public inspection and copying at its offices on 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2. The information is also available on the Commission’s website www.sipo.gov.ie

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APPENDIX

Table 1 Summary of donations disclosed by Political Parties for 2014

Political Party Appropriate Officer Total disclosed € Anti - Austerity Alliance Mr Michael O’Brien 13,400 Catholic Democrats (The National Party) Mrs Elizabeth Mahon NIL Communist Party of Ireland Mr Eugene McCartan NIL Direct Democracy Ireland Mr Raymond Whitehead N/A Fianna Fáil Mr Seán Dorgan NIL Fine Gael Mr Tom Curran 102,567 Fís Nua Dr Ben Nutty NIL Green Party Mr Martin C Nolan 3,600 Independents for Equality Movement Mr , TD NIL Irish Democratic Party Ms Laura Smollen NIL People Before Profit Alliance Ms Ailbhe Smith 2,500 Sinn Féin Ms Treasa Quinn 1,520 South Kerry Independent Alliance Mr Donie Doody NIL Stop the Water Tax - Socialist Party Ms Fiona O’Loughlin 30,405 The Labour Party Mr David Leach 5,000 The Workers Party Mr John Lowry NIL United Left Ms Joan Collins 2,500 Workers and Unemployed Action Ms Kathleen Bulbert 4,900 Total 166,392

N/A: Figure not available as return not submitted

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Table 2 - Details of donations disclosed by political parties for 2014

Anti - Austerity Alliance

Value of Name & address of donor Description of donor donation € Eugene Coppinger, Individual 2,200 46 Forest Walk, Rivervalley, Swords, Co Dublin Marian O’Sullivan, Individual 2,500 38 Hollymount, Harbour View Rd., , Individual 1,700 155 Briarwood Close, , Dublin 15 Cian Prendiville, Individual 2,500 45 Brookville Gardens, Paul Murphy, Individual 2,500 6 The Copse, Woodpark, Ballinteer, Dublin 14 Matthew Waine, Individual 2,000 19 Windmill Square, Clonsilla, Dublin 15 TOTAL 13,400

Fine Gael

Address given for all donors (unless otherwise noted) was: Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Name & address of donor Description of donor Value of donation € Pat Breen, TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/Minister 2,244 Senator Individual/Senator 1,995 , TD Individual/TD 2,112 Catherine Byrne, TD Individual/TD 1,860 Ciaran Cannon, TD Individual/Minister 1,596 , TD Individual/TD 1,515 Individual/MEP 1,882 144 Blackrock Road, Cork , TD Individual/Minister 1,894 Áine Collins, TD Individual/TD 1,941 Sean Conlan, TD Individual/TD 1,515 Paul Connaughton, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, TD Individual/TD 1,667 , TD Individual/Minister 1,635 , TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/TD 1,515 John Deasy, TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/Minister 1,656 Pat Deering, TD Individual/TD 1,617 , TD Individual/TD 1,733

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Fine Gael

Address given for all donors (unless otherwise noted) was: Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Name & address of donor Description of donor Value of donation € , TD Individual/Minister 1,575 Andrew Doyle, TD Individual/TD 1,653 , TD Individual/TD 2,277 , TD Individual/Minister 1,647 , TD Individual/TD 1,756 Frances Fitzgerald, TD Individual/Minister 2,188 , TD Individual/TD 1,566 Charlie Flanagan, TD Individual/Minister 1,667 Noel Harrington, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Simon Harris, TD Individual/Minister 1,749 , Individual/MEP 2,233 48 Dunmore Park, Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, Dublin 24 Tom Hayes Individual/Minister 1,725 Imelda Henry Individual/Senator 1,588 , TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/Minister 1,677 , TD Individual/Minister 2,002 Derek Keating, TD Individual/TD 1,764 , TD Individual/Minister 1,626 , TD Individual/ 1,686 Sean Kyne, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Dinny McGinley, TD Individual/TD 1,668 Mairead McGuinness, MEP, Individual/MEP 1,515 Mentrim, Drumconrath, Navan Joe McHugh, TD Individual/Minister 1,596 Olivia Mitchell, TD Individual/TD 1,775 Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD Individual/TD 1,598 , TD Individual/TD 2,175 Daniel Neville, TD Individual/TD 1,665 Michael Noonan, TD Individual/Minister 2,213 Kieran O’Donnell, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Patrick O’Donovan, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Fergus O’Dowd, TD Individual/Minister 1,566 John O’Mahony, TD Individual/TD 1,566 Joe O’Reilly, TD Individual/TD 1,713 , TD Individual/TD 2,093 James Reilly, TD Individual/Minister 1,635 Alan Shatter, TD Individual/ TD 1,606

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Fine Gael

Address given for all donors (unless otherwise noted) was: Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Name & address of donor Description of donor Value of donation € , TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/TD 1,566 , TD Individual/Minister 2,201 Total 102,567

Green Party

Name and Address of Donor Description of Donor Value of Donation € John Gormley, 119 Ringsend Park, Individual 1,600 Ringsend, Dublin 4 Brian Hurley, 63 Greenlawns, Individual 2,000 Skerries, Co Dublin. Total 3,600

People before Profit Alliance

Name and Address of Donor Description of Donor Value of Donation € UNITE – the Union, Trade Union/Corporate 2,500 55 – 56 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1 Donor TOTAL 2,500

Sinn Féin

Value of Name & address of donor Description of donor donation € Stephen McGlade, Individual 1,520 c/o Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 TOTAL 1,520

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Stop the Water Tax - Socialist Party

Name and Address of Donor Description of Donor Value of donation € Donal Griffin, 4 Chancery Hall, Individual 2,500 North King Street, Dublin 7 Michael Murphy, 23 Lissadell, Individual 2,400 Maryborough, Douglas, Cork Conor McLiam, 6 Pinewood Individual 2,300 Avenue, Archer Street, Kilkenny Finghinn Kelly, 26 Marsham Individual 2,215 Court, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin Anthony Hetherington, 136 Individual 2,160 Kilbarry Place, Cork Kate Relihan, 58 Woodview Individual 1,820 Grove, , Dublin 15 Terry Kelleher, 9 Hillside Close, Individual 1,681 Skerries, Co Dublin Kevin Henry, 43 Omeath Street, Individual 2,500 Belfast BT6 8NO Joe Higgins, TD, 155 Briarwood Individual/TD 2,500 Close, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15 Michael O’Brien, 65 Robswall Individual 2,500 Crescent, Malahide, Co Dublin Paul Murphy, TD, 6 The Copse, Individual/TD 2,496 Ballinteer, Dublin 16 , TD, 159 Castle Individual/TD 1,872 Curragh Heath, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15. Diana O’Dwyer, 15 Thor Place, Individual 1,863 Stoneybatter, Dublin 7 Eugene Coppinger, 46 Forest Individual 1,598 Walk, Swords, Co Dublin Total 30,405

The Labour Party

Name and Address of Donor Description of Donor Value of Donation € SIPTU, Trade Union/Corporate 2,5 00 Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 Donor TSSA, Trade Union/Corporate 2,500 Nerney’s Court, off Temple Bar, Donor Dublin 1 Total 5,000

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United Left

Name and Address of Donor Description of Donor Value of Donation € Joan Collins, 30 Ring Street, Inchicore, Dublin 8 Individual/TD 2,500 TOTAL 2,500

Workers and Unemployed Action

Name and address of donor Description of Donor Value of Donation € Seamus Healy, TD, 56 Queen Individual/TD 2,400 Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Pat English, Cashaniska, Individual/ 2,500 Rathronan, Clonmel, Co Tipperary Councillor Total 4,900

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