Politicians are gearing up for the election, with some putting up posters before they have to account for their spending, writes Mark Hennessy,Political Correspondent
Politics is surrounded by myths. One is that Dáil candidates cannot begin to advertise their wares before voters until the formal start has been given to the campaign following the dissolution of the Dáil. They can, as long as they put up their posters on permitted roadside advertising hoardings, bus shelters, train stations, etc. However, each of these is expensive, and requires advance booking.
Politicians, however, are not allowed to put up election posters on telegraph polls, temporary road hoardings put up without planning permission, or any other place where they could do it "on the cheap". The restriction, which is based on the litter laws and is not anything to do with election legislation, has not stopped some TDs, such as Fianna Fáil's Charlie O'Connor, from trying to get away with it. (Last week, O'Connor was asked by the waste enforcement section of South Dublin County Council to remove 400 posters from streets in Tallaght and Templeogue.)
He is far from alone. The erection of such posters will always spark "a controversy", generate some press and radio coverage, and rarely, if ever, a prosecution by the local authorities. The central ambition will nearly always be achieved: name recognition. Right now, politicians will do almost anything to drive their name into the distracted consciousness of the electorate.
Supporters of the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche have also been involved in erecting unapproved posters, though the Minister was quick to deny that he had sanctioned the move.
Cork County Council is ready to write to all candidates in the county to warn them of their obligations under the litter laws, though it has had no official complaints that posters have gone up too early.
They have, though. Supporters of Fianna Fáil's Michael Moynihan and Donal Moynihan have already started to promote their favourites in the bitterly contested Cork North West constituency.
There, the toughest battles will be between candidates on party tickets, rather than between parties, following the transfer of Fianna Fáil's Batt O'Keeffe, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, into the constituency from neighbouring Cork South Central.
Proving that everything is local in politics, O'Keeffe, one of the wiliest campaigners in the world of politics, has not been shy about delivering Department of the Environment grants for his home patch, wherever possible.
While the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has not called the election, it is now on in earnest, with nearly all TDs and candidates near-maniacal because of the stresses of campaigning, and praying for a quick declaration of the "off".
Under the rules, the spending by political parties and candidates during the campaign proper is limited and monitored by the Standards in Public Office Commission.
The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, recently raised the spending limits so that €30,150 could be spent per candidate in a three-seat constituency, €37,650 in a four-seat constituency or €45,200 in a five-seat constituency.
IN REALITY, THE sum spent on the ground by each candidate is far less, since some of this allowance, often up to half, is taken by party headquarters to run the national campaign, pay for the leader's tour of the country and cover national advertising.
In addition, it also encourages parties to run candidates in "no-hoper" constituencies, or to run additional candidates, since the allowance allocated to each can be consumed by headquarters, leaving little more than a token candidate on the ballot paper.
Candidates must agree, in writing, on the amount of money being assigned to party headquarters, though there are no hard-and-fast rules about when such an agreement must be made, and nor is there any bar on renegotiating the spending split.
Election agents must keep records of all donations made to their candidates, including money, property or goods, the free use of property and goods, the supply of services, or the difference between the commercial price of a service and the price charged to a candidate.
Yesterday, nearly 300 people attended a €200-a-plate fundraising lunch in Dublin in aid of the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney, following on from a similar lunch held a few weeks ago for Progressive Democrat leader, Michael McDowell.
In such cases, a contribution - which is calculated on the net profit raised from the event - is deemed to have been made on the date of the lunch, rather than the date on which the money is received in the candidate's accounts.
Donations to political parties are limited to €6,348 per donor per year, while the party is required to disclose to the Standards in Public Office Commission any donation from an individual that exceeds €5,078.95.
CANDIDATES, MEANWHILE, MUST register the names of any donors who give more than €634.87 in any one year, whether it be in one donation, or many. In practice, most donors - and many people now baulk at the idea of giving money to politicians - prefer anonymity and give less than the threshold amount.
Most of the spending incurred by candidates prior to the dissolution of the Dáil is not regulated by the Standards in Public Office Commission, chaired by former High Court judge, Matthew P Smith - a fact which has for long been raised by the ethics body.
Posters, for example, bought before the campaign, but used during it, would be included in a candidate's election limits, but those bought and used beforehand - but not during the campaign itself - would not.
In 2002, Fianna Fáil spent significant money in the six months before the election on 48ft by 12ft hoardings, though, curiously, it has not opted for the same this time.
Instead, Fine Gael, the Labour Party and, to a lesser extent, the Progressive Democrats have opted for billboards, though all of the parties this time are using the internet if only as a launch pad to get images, or ideas taken up by the wider media.
Electioneering spending before the campaign, on newspaper advertisements, literature etc doesn't come under the remit of the commission, which admits that this loophole has the potential to "fundamentally undermine the perceived effectiveness of the legislation", it said in December 2003.
Imposing tougher restrictions would require candidates and parties to keep "rolling" three-monthly, or six-monthly records of their spending between elections, though the commission acknowledged that this would be difficult to manage. "The worst possible outcome would be the imposition of a regime which is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to supervise and which could lead to the legislation being brought into disrepute," it said at the time.
Under the legislation, TDs who use their Oireachtas offices during the campaign will be obliged to submit this as part of their campaign spending, though, in reality, the facility is of little use even to Dublin-based deputies.
In campaigns up to now, TDs could use their offices in Leinster House without restriction, though the change was forced by a court judgment in a case taken by an unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate, Des Kelly, who argued that sitting members should not have advantages over newcomers.