23 June 2009

Circular F. 33/09

Submission of Statements and Declarations under the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999, as amended

I refer to Circulars F19/09 and F21/09, and in particular the returns that are required to be made under Section 13 of the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999, as amended. The Act specifies that statements of election expenses and donations shall be furnished in person to the local authority concerned within 90 days following polling day. Returns in respect of the local elections held on June 5^th 2009 should therefore be submitted to each local authority no later than September 3^rd 2009. Spending for electoral purposes incurred between April 7^th and June 5^th 2009 (inclusive) must be included on the declaration form. Following the recent amendments made to the 1999 Act, spending limits now apply.

You may at this point wish to remind candidates and others required to make returns (designated persons and third parties), of their obligations in this regard. Returns from national agents of political parties are made to Dublin City Council as the ‘Specified Local Authority’ for this purpose. Guidelines documentation, in two volumes, in respect of compliance with the provisions of the Act has already been forwarded to all local authorities. Further copies of these Guidelines, including the Irish language versions, are attached.

One set of guidelines is concerned with the statutory obligations for candidates. The other set deals with the statutory obligations for national agents of a political party, designated persons and third parties. The appendices to the Guidelines documents include the forms on which returns must be made.

All candidates, national agents, designated persons and third parties must submit a statement of election expenses and statutory declaration on the relevant prescribed form. In addition, unsuccessful candidates are required to include details on this form of any donations (either a single donation or an aggregate of donations) received in excess of €634.87. The relevant forms are attached at Appendix I of the respective guidelines documents. Where applicable, the statement from an unsuccessful candidate must be accompanied by details of a political donation account, with a certificate and statutory declaration form signed by the candidate (this separate form is at Appendix II of the guidelines document for candidates).

Queries

Any queries you may have in relation to this circular can be made to the undersigned, or to Eamonn Waters, tel: 01-888 2878, email: eamonn_waters@environ.ie, or to the Franchise Section tel: 01-888 2424, email: franchise@environ.ie.

Is mise, le meas,

__________________________

Joe Harrington

Principal Officer

Franchise Section.

To: Each Local Authority