Electoral Act, 1997

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Reimbursement of election expenses of candidates.

21.—(1) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b), (c) and (d), election expenses shall be reimbursed to a candidate at a Dáil general election or bye-election who—

(i) is elected at the election; or

(ii) is not so elected but the greatest number of votes credited to him or her at any stage of the counting of votes at the election exceeds one quarter of the quota.

(b) (i) The amount of election expenses which may be reimbursed to a candidate under this section shall be the actual expenses incurred by the candidate or five thousand pounds, whichever is the less.

(ii) Election expenses deemed to have been incurred by a candidate of a political party under section 32 (1)(b) shall be reckoned for the purposes of this section.

(c) Subject to paragraph (d), payments in respect of the reimbursement of election expenses under this section shall be made by the Minister for Finance out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to each candidate referred to in paragraph (a) who applies therefor to the Public Offices Commission.

(d) No payment in respect of the reimbursement of election expenses of a candidate shall be made under this section unless and until the Public Offices Commission has—

(i) certified to the Minister for Finance that the relevant statement of election expenses and statutory declaration have been furnished by the election agent of the candidate to the Commission under section 36 ,

(ii) certified to the said Minister that the said statement was completed in accordance with guidelines issued by the Commission under section 4 , and complies with the provisions of Part V , and

(iii) furnished to the Minister for Finance details of the amount of the actual expenses incurred by the candidate.

(e) The Public Offices Commission shall furnish to the Minister for Finance, as soon as may be after consideration by it of an application for reimbursement of election expenses under paragraph (c) and the statement of election expenses furnished to it in respect of the candidate under section 36 , the details referred to in paragraph (d) in respect of each candidate who is eligible for reimbursement of election expenses at an election.

(f) (i) Where a candidate referred to in paragraph (a) dies after the close of the poll at an election and has not made an application for the reimbursement of election expenses under this section, an application for the reimbursement of the said candidate's election expenses may be made by, and where appropriate, the payment may be made to, the personal representative of the candidate.

(ii) Where a candidate referred to in paragraph (a) dies after making an application for the reimbursement of election expenses under this section and before payment is made to the candidate, payment in respect of the reimbursement of the said candidate's expenses may be made to the personal representative of the candidate.

(g) Every payment made to a candidate, or the personal representative of a candidate, as the case may be, under this section shall not be liable to income tax.

(2) (a) The Minister may make regulations providing for the reimbursement of election expenses of candidates at a presidential election or a European election and may make provisions corresponding to the provisions of this section subject however to any modification in those provisions appearing to the Minister to be appropriate.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), regulations under this subsection may make provision for all or any of the following matters:

(i) the criteria for the reimbursement of election expenses to candidates;

(ii) the amount of expenses which may be reimbursed;

(iii) the method of payment in respect of the reimbursement of such expenses; and

(iv) the procedure in relation to the reimbursement of election expenses where a candidate dies.

(3) Where regulations under this section are proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each House.

(4) In this section the expression “election expenses”, insofar as it relates to Dáil or European elections, has the meaning assigned to it in section 31 and, insofar as it relates to presidential elections, has the meaning assigned to it in section 52 .