Sir, - A. Leavy (December 13th) gives the impression that there are no controls in place relating to political donations and election spending. Since 1997, under the Electoral Acts, all TDs, Senators and MEPs must disclose to the Public Offices Commission, annually, details of political donations received by them with a value greater than IR£500. The same applies to unsuccessful candidates at Dail, Senate and European Parliament elections. Political parties must disclose donations with a value of more than IR£4,000. Candidates, as well as political parties, are now subject to strict spending limits at elections. These limits applied to the five Dail bye-elections held since 1998 and to the 1999 European Parliament election. The limits will be in force for the next Dail general election.
Details of all spending at the election will have to be disclosed to the Public Offices Commission. A candidate who is successful at the election or who gets a quarter of the quota in a constituency will be entitled to claim a refund of election expenses from the Exchequer up to a maximum of IR£5,000.
All of the information furnished to the Commission by elected politicians, candidates and political parties is available to the public for inspection and copying at the Commission's office. Much of the information can also be found on the Commission's website at www.irlgov.ie/poc - Yours, etc.,
Brian Allen, Commission Secretary, Public Offices Commission,
Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.