Appearance before Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment Text of Opening Statement

(Check against delivery)

Good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation to appear before you today on behalf of the

Standards in Public Office Commission. My name is Sherry Perreault, and I am the Head of Ethics and

Lobbying Regulation, and Secretary to the Commission.

The Standards in Public Office Commission, in its current iteration, has been in place since 2001,

replacing the former Public Offices Commission. The Commission is comprised of 6 members,

including: the Controller and Auditor General, the Ombudsman, the Clerk of Dail Eireann, the Clerk

of Seanad Eireann, a former member of the Oireachtas, and is chaired by a former judge of the High

Court. Our present chair is Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe.

The Standards Commission oversees several pieces of legislation, along with their associated

statutory instruments, which serve to support transparency and good governance.

The Acts administered by the Commission are:

The Ethics in Public Office Act 1995 and the Standards in Public Office Act 2001 (which

together are known as the Ethics Acts), and deal primarily with managing conflicts of

interest;

The Electoral Act 1997 (as amended), which deals primarily with political financing;
The Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2014, which deals

with the parliamentary activities allowance, and finally

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, which provides transparency for decision-making

processes.

Today I will focus my remarks on the Commission’s powers under the Electoral Acts, which I believe

would be most relevant to these proceedings.

Under the current legislation, the Commission oversees compliance with respect to the:

Disclosure of donations to TDs, Senators, parties, candidates and third parties
Expenditure of Exchequer funding
Donation limits, declaration thresholds and prohibitions on certain donations
Disclosure of election spending and spending limits (at Dail, European and Presidential

elections) and certifies election expenses for reimbursement

Disclosure of political party accounts
Registration of corporate donors, and
Registration of third parties.

Candidates, elected officials, political parties and third parties are subject to the Act’s obligations,

including donation acceptance rules and disclosure obligations. To clarify, a third party is any

individual or organisation that accepts a donation for political purposes valued at more than €100. I

further note that we have no role in disclosure of donations or electoral expenditure at local

authority level.

The Commission has a role in issuing guidance and advice to those with obligations under the Acts. It

is empowered to make inquiries under the Act and, where the Commission is of the view that an

offence under the Act has been committed, it may refer the matter to the Director for Public

Prosecutions. In practice, and at the request of the DPP, such referrals are made to An Garda

Síochana in the first instance.

In published reports, including its most recent annual report, the Commission has commented on

areas of the Electoral Acts which it believes would benefit from review and modification.

These include transparency in respect of expenditure at referendums, disclosure of sources of

funding to political and third parties, and the definitions of third parties and what constitutes a

political purpose.

While the Commission does have oversight of political donations, the Commission has no statutory

role to oversee the content of political advertising, whether it originates inside or outside the State.

The Commission recently commented on the issue of online advertising in its 2017 Annual Report,

and I quote:

“The landscape of political engagement has changed in the years since the Act was passed,

with the internet and social media now featuring heavily in any campaign. While there are

prohibitions on foreign political donations other than in specific circumstances, the

Commission notes with concern that individuals and organisations based outside of Ireland

may fund political advertising or launch digital campaigns financed outside the State. As no

legislative framework currently exists to address these matters, it would appear that an

important and continually evolving tool in modern Irish political discourse (i.e. the internet)

is unregulated. This allows for foreign actors to influence Irish elections and referendums,

with potentially significant consequences” (end quote).

In its report, the Commission called for a comprehensive review of the Electoral Act with a view to

addressing this issue, preferably in the context of the creation of an electoral commission.

This summarises the role and statutory functions of the Commission. I would be happy to take any

questions you may have.