Political donations - Fianna Fáil explanation inadequate

Fianna FÁIL is again in trouble for accepting donations that exceeded the permissible threshold.

These totalled more than €47,500, according to information uncovered by the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act. At least six of the donations were above the limit at which they should have been declared to the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Before the party’s Ard Fheis in February, Fianna Fáil declared that it received a total of €2.2 million from the State in 2007 and 2008 and that it raised €659,050 through its fundraising superdraw, and a further €536,000 from its national constituency collections.

This money funded the expenditure of €3.6 million during the four-week general election campaign of 2007. Under the Electoral Act of 1997, parties must report donations from any single company of more than €5,078.95, and there is a limit of €6,348.61. The legislation was passed before the conversion from the punt to the euro, so limits are not in rounded figures.

Durkan New Homes, a Dublin company, breached the limit with donations of €15,658 and €7,390, while Mosney Irish Holidays exceeded the limit with a donation of €6,500.

In 2007 the Dublin North East Comhairle Dáil Cheantair accounting unit listed two cheques for €6,500. Those were above the limit, so €151.37 was returned in each instance to the donor in order to bring the contribution under the limit, but this was not done within the necessary 14 days. It was an honest mistake, so in the circumstances the violation was not reported to the gardaí. The details of the irregular donations were published as part of the regular filing of annual reports at the Companies Registration Office. The total contributions registered came to €113,731, over 62% of which was donated to Fianna Fáil.

As a policy the party does not comment on individual donations. “We always adhere to best practice in relations to donations,” a spokesperson said.

This is insulting to the intelligence of people, and only the most gullible and naive are likely to be fooled by such protestations. “Fool me once, shame on you,” party founder Eamon de Valera used to say. “Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Candidates are supposed to report any donation over €100 and the party is responsible for ensuring limits are not exceeded. There have been instances of companies making separate donations to individual candidates, but the party is responsible for ensuring the total of those contributions does not exceed the €6,348.61 limit.

In some instances it is clear from the registered accounts that companies have given over the limit. It was apparently not illegal for those companies to do so, but it was illegal for any political party to accept more than the limit. Such incongruity is a recipe for confusion.