Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Act 2012

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Limits on donations from corporate donors.

10.— The Act of 1997 is amended by inserting the following section after section 23A (inserted by section 49(d) of the Act of 2001):

“23AA.— (1) None of the following persons namely—

(a) a member of either House of the Oireachtas,

(b) a member of the European Parliament,

(c) a candidate at a Dáil, Seanad or European election,

(d) a political party,

(e) a third party, or

(f) an accounting unit,

shall, directly or through any intermediary, accept from a particular corporate donor in a particular year a donation the value of which exceeds €200 unless—

(i) the corporate donor is registered on the register of corporate donors, and

(ii) a statement is made on behalf of the corporate donor and furnished with the donation to the donee confirming that the making of the donation was approved by the corporate donor.

(2) A statement under subsection (1)(ii) shall be in the form directed by the Standards in Public Office Commission and shall be accompanied by a statutory declaration that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person concerned, the statement is correct in every material respect and that the person has taken all reasonable action in order to be satisfied as to the accuracy of the statement.

(3) A statement under subsection (1)(ii) and statutory declaration under subsection (2) shall be made by one of the following persons:

(a) in the case of a company, by a director or other officer of the company;

(b) in the case of a body corporate (other than a company) or an unincorporated body of persons, by any officer of the body or any person for the time being performing the functions of an officer of the body;

(c) in the case of a trust, by a trustee of the trust.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a donation shall not be prohibited under that subsection where—

(a) a provider of a programme of education and training, or

(b) the students’ union or other representative body recognised by a provider of a programme of education and training,

makes a payment to a club, society or other body, operating with the permission and on the premises of the provider of a programme of education and training, and every member of which is a student who is enrolled or registered with the provider of a programme of education and training.

(5) Where a corporate donor makes more than one donation—

(a) in the same year to the same member of either House of the Oireachtas, member of the European Parliament, political party, third party or accounting unit, or

(b) in relation to the same Dáil, Seanad, or European election to the same candidate, or in relation to the same referendum or campaign,

all such donations shall, for the purposes of this section, be aggregated and treated as a single donation received by the person concerned and references in subsequent provisions of this section to a donation the acceptance of which is prohibited by subsection (1) shall be construed accordingly.

(6) Where, notwithstanding subsection (1) a donation the acceptance of which is prohibited by that subsection, is made to a person referred to therein, the donee shall, not later than 14 days after the receipt of the donation either—

(a) return the donation or, in the case of a donation which is a monetary donation, the part of it exceeding the limit concerned to the corporate donor and keep a written record of that return for the purposes of its being furnished to the Standards in Public Office Commission, if required by it, or

(b) notify the Standards in Public Office Commission of such receipt and remit the donation, or, in the case of a donation which is a monetary donation, the part of it exceeding the limit concerned or the value thereof, to the Commission.

(7) The Standards in Public Office Commission shall dispose of all moneys, property or goods received under subsection (6) in such manner as may be directed by the Minister for Finance.

(8) In this section—

‘approved by the corporate donor’ means—

(a) that a general meeting, one of the purposes of which is to consider making a donation to which this section applies, has been duly convened and conducted and approval for making the donation has been given in accordance with the rules (whether in writing or not) governing the administration and control of the corporate donor concerned and regulating its activities and such rules shall include—

(i) in the case of a company, the memorandum and articles of association of the company,

(ii) in the case of a body corporate other than a company, the charter, statute, or other like instrument by which it is established,

(iii) in the case of an unincorporated body of persons, the rules (howsoever described) of the body,

or

(b) that a donation to which this section applies is made by a trustee in accordance with the deed of trust establishing the trust concerned which deed of trust permits the making of such a donation;

‘provider of a programme of education and training’ has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 1999 .”.