Electoral Commission: Body must be given real powers

IRELAND’S long-awaited Electoral Commission is to be established finally in the new year. Let us hope it will prove worth the wait, but, more importantly, let us hope that it has more teeth than its UK equivalent.

The British Electoral Commission describes itself as “the independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK.” As the regulator of political party funding in the UK, the commission’s role is to ensure the integrity and transparency of party and election finance.