Ireland's arcane guidelines covering election expenses create an impenetrable system, writes Harry McGee
It all seems clear enough, right? But very quickly the windscreen can fog up.
Fitzpatrick’s costs for actual posters amounted to less than €500 when most others were paying 10 times that, including Donohoe. What was going on here? The reason was that she had assigned the cost of printing the posters to Fianna Fáil centrally, which she was allowed to do as long as the total did not exceed the limit. Therefore, that entry did not appear in her personal expenses statement.
Likewise, Doherty’s office and stationery costs were €1,333.95 in 2016 but had fallen to zero in 2020. It was a big drop and probably explained by costs being assigned. But the returns leave you none the wiser in terms of explaining that. This brings us to the third problem: the legislation underlying the ethics of elections. If the forms and rules are arcane, the law is also lagging badly behind. Sipo is unable to initiate an investigation of its own volition. If its attention is drawn to an omission, or an anomaly, or an incorrect declaration, the watchdog must wait for somebody to make a formal complaint before it takes action. It is an artificial device.
That train has now left the station. The electoral commission has been established but its remit does not extend to ethical issues. As for Sipo, it is still in need of reform. In 2015, draft legislation for public sector standards was published and a Dáil committee held hearings on it.