Gardai are investigating four cases where unsuccessful candidates and election agents in the North Dublin by-election failed to return certain financial statements required under the law.
Members of the public can now inspect details of donations provided for political use to unsuccessful candidates in both the Dublin North and Limerick East by-elections, which were held on March 11th last. These were the first by-elections to be covered by the limitation of election expenditure.
According to details released by the Public Offices Commission yesterday, gardai were alerted after two candidates failed to return a donation statement and two election agents did not provide an election expenses statement.
The statutory expenditure limits were exceeded in two cases. An over-run of £497 was incurred by the election agent of the successful Labour candidate, Mr Sean Ryan, and this will be deducted from the £5,000 reimbursement due to the TD in respect of his election expenses.
In Limerick East, Fine Gael's national agent overspent by £2,047, and this will also be taken from the next payment due to the party from the Exchequer in early February.
However, the commission said that, after examination of the two cases, it had come to the conclusion that the agents in question did not knowingly exceed the spending limits. The commission "advised the Director of Public Prosecutions accordingly" and has been informed there will be no prosecution.
Four candidates in Dublin North and five in Limerick East each qualified for a reimbursement of £5,000 by the commission for their election expenses. The money was awarded on the basis of their vote size.
Details of election expenses incurred by candidates and political parties in the by-elections are now available in the Public Offices Commission.
Under the 1997 Electoral Act, each of the 28 unsuccessful candidates contesting the by-elections were required to provide the commission with a statement indicating whether or not they received any donations over £500 in connection with the by-elections. The name and postal address of the donor also had to be disclosed.
Aggregate election expenses incurred by candidates and parties in Dublin North had to remain within a limit of £17,000 per candidate. The limit was £20,000 per candidate in Limerick East.
The Act demands that each candidate's donation statement be accompanied by a statutory declaration. The two successful Labour candidates, Mr Ryan and Ms Jan O'Sullivan, are due to make their annual donation disclosure at the end of January.
Meanwhile, election agents appointed by the 11 political parties which contested the by-elections were also required to give the commission details of all expenditure incurred by them at the by-elections.