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THE STANDARDS IN Public Office Commission has published a series of guidelines dealing with the changes introduced by amendments to the Electoral Act 2012 on political funding.
The provisions, which came into effect on 1 January apply to members of, and candidates seeking election to, the Dáil, Seanad, European Parliament and local authorities to political parties, third parties and candidates at a Presidential election.
Included in the provisions are:
Further measures reducing the threshold at which donations must be declared on a donation statement to the Standards Commission by an individual, elected representative or candidate from €634.87 to €600 will come into effect on 1 February.
Additional information must be included on a donation statement indicating whether the donation was solicited, along with the name of the person soliciting the donation, whether a receipt was given and the date the donation was given and received. There is also a provision for a reduction in the threshold from €5,078.95 to €1,500 in the aggregate amount that a donor can give to multiple candidates of the same party before being required to submit a donation statement to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
In April a provision will come into operation reducing the threshold for declaring donations received by a political party from €5,078.95 to €1,500.
Finally, coming into operation on the 7 November 2013 a provision of the Act will reduce from €5,078.95 to €200 the threshold at which donations must be reported by a company, trade union, society or building society in its annual report or return to the Registrar of Companies or Registrar of Friendly Societies.
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Donate to a charity for gods sake………………………not a bloody party……………
True…who the fk in their right mind would give a shilling to the basterds who drove and are driving this country into the ground…
Charities cannot render useful services to big business, so no good donating beyond a pittance for PR purposes. I think politicians and business will find new ways to scratch each other’s back, say a politician awarding a contract and later getting a job for a dud family member or a directorship, that is to say, barter. Libel laws make it hard to denounce rotten looking transactions where no law is broken.
Contact Sean Gallagher for further details.
He is busy, cashing in on Rte. Sorry, I meant Sueing!
As Gallagher said he may have been given an envelope but he did not know what was in the envelope. FF will have lots of stuffed envelopes with no one having an idea what is in them circulating among their bag men and elected officials and cumann capo’s.
Wait for it…… ” absolutely not we never received 50,000 from that person. It was from 500 individuals who donated 100 each anonymously”.
Never donate money to Mafia(Political Party) or to a such charity which you dont know where the donations goes. always donate wisely ..,
Donate to New parties, if you can and help them set up a Democratic alternative to the old and outdated civil war parties! We need new parties, politicians and fresh thinking to reflect 2013 and not 1913!
With the amount of money TDs get plus perks, you wouldn’t think they need a donation. If they cant live on their wages, what about Joe Mary Soap.
For anybody that is interested, donations made directly to TD’s in 2011
Why would any body give money. But only to buy favours . Should be stopped all together . Its not if. Thy need it over. . paid. Clowns . .
Two issues come to mind. Firstly, will the taxpayer be end up having to increase payments to parties by way of election expenses, eaders allowances, and other payments reating to seats won etc.
Secondly, how will Sinn Feinn get around this with it’s practice of requesting it’s elected representatives to donate to the party the difference between their salaries and the average industrial wage? (excluding print cartridges and Northern Bank notes.)
Hmm.. if i was to guess, i would say your not a member of SF?
He has a good point though.
Which he makes two,first makes sense second is just partisan opinion.
SF no 1 don’t request they choose to do this , secondly they not involved in brown envelopes Galway tents etc etc so just give it a rest !
Donations to Politic Parties, Brown Envelopes, Cash for favours, Union and Corporate donations. Make’s it nearly impossible for for a ordinary decent person to run for politics. Or is that the idea?
Decent people run to become politicians,decency is cast aside when they are elected.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing for golf clubs?i wonder.
Isn’t the problem with political donations that while big developers and businesses can buy the policy and votes of FF TD’s, the more serious problem is the brown envelope culture that exists within the party and its membership. The same people that pocket donations at cumann level, the same people that accepted bribes etc are all still at every level of the party. Are we now to believe that FF’s membership and elected reps care for the rules or the law.?
Parties like FF that have many members that are frankly white collar criminals need to see that this legislation will be accompanied by meaningful investigative powers.
Cash donations should be banned entirely. Its too easy for a party to claim they raised money through a church-gate collection or some such, when it was from a single donor.
Donations for Seanad Elections, is that a wind up or an excuse to funnel the funds to Dail and local Elections. Senators are not democratically elected by the citizens in public elections. I’d say the Seanad won’t be abolished, they are trying every trick and con to have it happen that way!
Shinner TD’s will be rubbing their hands with Glee. Unrolled Gerry hikes the party membership fee. Can’t have them getting above their stations ya know. Before long, they’ll be looking for a second house…
All this coming from you a f/failed party member ……
Not a member of any party. But seriously, grown men and women working a 90 hour week having their money taken from them. To keep them grounded like. And people like you think they should run our finances…
They choose to do this, and this is done so they don’t have to rely in big corporation and corrupt business men to fund their party ! This is why they sincerely stand for the ordinary IRISH citizens so stop twisting things .
Hi Julie. Welcome to the Journal. You’ll find there’s lots of Shinnerbots here so you’ll be in your element.
Actually, a number of SF TD’s stated last year they were findings these terms quite challenging and were looking for change.
A party that claims to represent the poor and aims to better their lot in life heaps austerity on its own members. The irony of it!! An average TD works 70 hrs per week. They’re allowed take home the AIW from their salary which is app 25k. That puts them on about 6.80 an hour – way below minimum wage. From a party supposedly representing the poor. An “honest” party…
Your figures are all wrong, heaping austerity on there own come on, your post doesn’t even deserve a reply.
And yet you do reply…
Julie
What choice is there when their Party would have a background in persuasion at a very senior level!
Also you might comment on the fact that all Sinn Fein TD’s give exactly the same amount of money to Headquarters from their salaries. If you examine Competition Law you will immediately see references to something similar which is suggestive of a form of concerted extraction by Sinn Fein from their Members which should worry anyone with an ounce of sem…sorry…dec….sorry Democracy running through their veins!
Look say what you like , they stand for democracy. I rather them then the guy giving themselves massive salaries. It has always been a policy of SF that TDs get average industrial wage , so they don’t rely on developers, corrupt business men , Galway tents to support their party , would we be in such a mess if other parties had done the same !
That’s the end of the rezoning ‘bonus’ so. Drug dealers, sorry i meant gold dealers beware & stock up on your brown envelopes.
These are merely guidelines, what we need are laws, open and transparent.
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