The Government has raised the spending limit for European Parliament candidates in line with inflation to €230,000 for June's election campaign, a 20.75 per cent increase on the 1999 figure.
However, only spending on campaign material used in the final five weeks or so of the campaign need be counted towards this figure. Thus candidates are free to spend substantial sums in advance - as they did during the 2002 general election campaign - provided the material purchased is not used during the campaign's final stages.
Candidates must account for the cost of election material used after the date on which the order is made designating June 11th as polling day. This order must be made five weeks or more before polling day. Expensive billboard and poster campaigns currently being mounted by several candidates will not count unless they are continued after that date.
The Standards in Public Office Commission yesterday published its guidelines for the European Parliament elections setting out the rules on donations and election spending contained in the Electoral Acts, 1997 to 2002.
The guidelines advise candidates on keeping a record of donations, the need to disclose the receipt of individual donations worth over €634.87, and other requirements of the legislation. They also say that arising from the judgment in the Desmond Kelly case in 2002, sitting Oireachtas members or MEPs using European Parliament or Oireachtas facilities for the campaign must assign a value to them and account for them as an election expense.
Such facilities as used by candidates in the 2002 election were valued at €924,000, or 10 per cent of the total amount spent by all candidates and parties during that campaign.
The spending limit for each candidate at the European election has been set at €230,000 by Ministerial Order, compared to IR£150,000 (€190,461) at the 1999 election.
Candidates who are standing for a political party can assign all or part of their limit to the party. The party can then spend the total amount assigned to it by its candidates, either on a national campaign or on individual candidates.
Candidates who are elected or who get a quarter of the quota in the election are entitled to a refund of up to €38,092.14 of their election expenses.
Individuals or groups intending to spend money promoting or opposing a political party or candidates must register with the Standards in Public Offices Commission.
In addition, any candidates or parties who have their campaign for the European elections referred to in material used for the local elections or the planned referendum on citizenship must include the monetary value of this in their total.
The Standards in Public Offices Commission is not involved in regulating spending at the local authority elections. There is no spending limit at these elections, but candidates must account for donations received above a minimum threshold and must also give an account of their spending to the local authority for which they were running.