Political Party Donations 2013 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 Dublin 2 Telephone: (01) 6395666 Fax: (01) 6395684 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.sipo.gov.ie Twitter: @SIPOCIreland July 2014 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 Tables 1 Foreword I am pleased to furnish this report to the Ceann Comhairle 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 2013, furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission by political parties pursuant to section 24 of the Act. ____________________ Justice Daniel O’Keeffe Chairman July 2014 2 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 2013 there were 16 political parties registered to contest Dáil or European elections. These 16 parties were obliged to furnish a Donation Statement for 2013 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. The requirements and definitions relating to the acceptance and reporting of the receipt of donations are set out below. Donation Statements Section 24(1)(a) & (b) provides that a donation statement is a written statement, in a form directed by the Commission, signed by a Member of either House of the Oireachtas, MEP or an officer of the political party, as the case may be, stating that a donation , exceeding in value the specified amount, had been received during the preceding year and stating in respect of each such donation: the aggregate value of the donations, the name, description and postal address of the person by or on whose behalf the donation was made, the date on which the donation was received (not required in the case of a political party), whether the donation was requested from the donor, and if so, the name of the person who requested the donation (not required in the case of a political party), and whether a receipt issued to the donor in respect of the donation, and if so, the date on which the receipt issued and the name of the person who issued the receipt (not required in the case of a political party). 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. 3 Name and address of accounting unit/responsible person Section 23B(2) of the Act requires the appropriate officer of each political party to notify the Standards Commission of the name and address of each of its "accounting units" and the "responsible person" of each accounting unit. 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. Section 24(1)(a) of the Act requires a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a representative in the European Parliament to submit a donation statement to the Commission each year. Section 24(1)(b) places a similar obligation on a political party. There is no requirement in the Act obliging an accounting unit to submit donation statements to the Commission. Part 2 of this report discusses the donations disclosed by political parties for 2013, the timeliness of the submission by the political parties of the statutory returns to the Commission and the disclosed source of the donations received. Part 3 of this report clarifies the situation in respect of the returns made by accounting/subsidiary units of the different political parties. 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. Part 4 of this report has details of such returns made for 2013. Part 5 of this report sets out the details of the publication by the Commission of statutory documentation relating to donations. 4 Part 2 Donations disclosed by political parties Donations received by a political party exceeding an aggregate value of €1,500 are required to be disclosed. The maximum value of donations which a political party can accept from the same person in the same calendar year is €2,500. Donations received from the same donor in the same calendar year must be aggregated for the purposes of observing the disclosure and maximum acceptance limits. Amount of donations disclosed by political parties The Socialist Party received a donation in excess of the maximum permitted amount but the excess donation of €49 was returned to the donor and documentary evidence of this was submitted to the Standards Commission, as is required by the Act. The Workers and Unemployed Action received a donation in excess of the maximum permitted amount but the excess donation of €2,060 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 2013 was €171,644. Donations disclosed came to the following total amounts: Party Total donations disclosed € Fine Gael 112,625 The Socialist Party 25,980 Sinn Féin 21,084 Workers & Unemployed Action 5,000 The Green Party 4,880 United Left 2,075 Total 171,644 Timeliness of political party returns Under section 25 of the Electoral Act 1997, 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 Monday 31 March 2014. Fourteen of the sixteen political parties required to furnish a Donation Statement/Statutory Declaration to the Commission did so by the specified date. The Catholic Democrats furnished the required documentation on 30 April 2014 and the Communist Party has not yet submitted the required statutory documentation. The Standards Commission referred a file to the Gardaí on the Communist Party’s failure to comply with the statutory requirements on 19 May 2014. Tables 1 and 2 of the Appendix show the donations disclosed by political parties for 2013. 5 Part 3 Accounting Units Timeliness of accounting unit returns for 2013 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 comply with their statutory deadline in this regard, as the following table shows: Table of Accounting Units returns received in respect of 2013 Political Party Returns Received Returns Received Outstanding before deadline After deadline Returns Fine Gael 26 28 1 Fianna Fáíl 19 18 1 People before Profit Alliance 1 1 0 Sinn Féin 6 6 0 The Green Party 18 4 0 The Labour Party 27 11 0 United Left 1 0 0 Total 98 68 2 At the time of writing the following accounting units had not submitted the required statutory returns.