Government ministers will face acute embarrassment later today when it emerges that many of them spent above the legal limit in last year's general election campaign, writes Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent.
The news will come in a report from the Standards in Public Office Commission which will show that, in accordance with the results of a Supreme Court judgment last November, many ministers and some Dáil deputies overspent in the May 2002 campaign.
The court ruled that outgoing TDs and senators must include the value of Oireachtas-provided services, such as secretaries, post and telephones, in their election returns. The ruling upheld an earlier High Court judgment, delivered the day before polling day, in a case taken by unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate Mr Des Kelly.
However, sitting Oireachtas members fought the last election on the basis that these facilities did not count as part of election spending.
Several candidates who lost narrowly to sitting members have said they will consider taking legal action to overturn the election result if today's report can be used to show the overspending had a significant impact on the result. These include Independent Ms Kathy Sinnott, who lost by just six votes, and Labour's Mr Nicky Kelly, who lost out by just 19 votes.
According to costings circulated by the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, this will add at least €3,000 to the election spending of outgoing Oireachtas members and substantially more to outgoing ministers and ministers of State. This will push many of them over the spending limits of £25,395 for candidates in three-seat constituencies, £31,743 in four-seaters and £38,092 in five-seaters.
However, although candidates who spend above the limits can be fined €1, 270 on conviction, the commission has already said it will not be referring any such cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions, as such overspending was inadvertent.
The commission has received 9,000 pages of statements from some 460 candidates who stood for election last May, and from the 10 agents of the registered political parties who fielded candidates. It will publish today's 40-page report on the basis of this documentation, together with 20 pages containing eight appendices.
Sources in several political parties conceded yesterday that "creative accounting" might ensure that many candidates in danger of being seen to have overspent will be seen to come in under the limit. This is because of the mechanism whereby candidates agree to allocate part of their limit to their party nationally to fund election headquarters and national advertising.
If the accounts show a smaller amount allocated to headquarters and a larger amount to the individual candidate, this could ensure that the party, and not an individual candidate, took the blame for any overspending. Such a mechanism would be particularly valuable to any candidate fearful of a challenge from a narrowly defeated rival.
Meanwhile, the Government is expected to consider raising the spending limits in the lifetime of this Dáil. Most parties, who cannot match Fianna Fáil's ability to raise funds from business, would oppose such a move.