THE LEGISLATION covering political donations is not achieving its aim of openness and transparency, according to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
The commission made the comment yesterday in a report showing that Irish political parties declared donations worth €76,617 last year. It was the lowest figure since the law requiring disclosure came into force in 1997.
The figures show that the three biggest parties in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party declared nothing in 2009.
The Green Party, Sinn Féin and the Socialist Party declared donations which all came from their elected politicians. The Green Party received a total of €38,088 which was made up of six donations of €6,348 from the party’s six TDs. The maximum value of any individual donation which a party may receive is €6,348.
Sinn Féin received a total of €24,000 arising from the donation of €6,000 each from the party’s four TDs. The Socialist Party donation of €5,819.55 came from the party’s Dublin MEP, Joe Higgins.
The Christian Solidarity Party received a donation of €8,709.50 in a bequest from the late Nora Kiernan with an address at Our Lady’s Manor, Dalkey, Co Dublin. As this sum exceeded the limit of €6,348, the excess of €2,360 was sent on to the Minister of Finance.
The commission said while political parties had benefited significantly from the provisions relating to funding from the exchequer, the provisions aimed at ensuring transparency and openness in relation to disclosure of donations remained ineffective.
“It should be possible for each citizen to have a clear picture of election spending by each candidate and party and also a clear indication of the sources for such funding. If the intention of the legislation is to provide for transparency and openness in relation to party funding and expenditure, then it is not achieving this aim.
“The standards commission has repeatedly stated that there is a strong case to be made for a new approach to the general funding of political parties, for increased transparency in such funding and for greater scrutiny of political party expenditure,” the report said.
It welcomed the recommendations of the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) report published in January 2010. Among its recommendations were that all legislation should be consolidated in a comprehensive, clear and up-to-date manner within the electoral code and that all political parties be legally required to publish independently audited annual accounts. These accounts should also report on income and expenditure of local branches.
Other recommendations included the lowering of the disclosure threshold to an “appropriate level” with greater clarity in electoral and anti-bribery codes and laws. A key recommendation was that the period during which political parties have to report election spending should be extended.
Political parties and candidates only have to report on how much they spend for about three weeks prior to the election, from the date the election is called to polling day.
