Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011
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Reimbursement of expenses at presidential elections. |
5.— (1) The Act of 1997 is amended by inserting the following section after section 21: | |
“21A.— (1)(a) Subject to paragraphs (b), (c) and (d), election expenses shall be reimbursed to a candidate at a presidential 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 thecounting of votes at the election exceeds one quarter of the quota. | ||
(b) The amount of election expenses which may bereimbursed to a candidate under this section shall be the actual expenses incurred by the candidate or €200,000 whichever is the less. | ||
(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, with the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to each candidate referred to in paragraph (a), who applies to the Standards in Public Offices Commission in a form directed by the 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 Standards in Public Offices Commission has— | ||
(i) certified to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform 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 56, | ||
(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 Part VI, and | ||
(iii) furnished to the said Minister details of the amount of the actual expenses incurred by the candidate. | ||
(2) The Standards in Public Offices Commission shall furnish to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, as soon as may be after consideration by it of an application for reimbursement of election expenses under subsection (1)(c) and the statement of election expenses furnished to it in respect of the candidate under section 56, the details referred to in subsection (1)(d) in respect of each candidate who is eligible for reimbursement of election expenses at a presidential election. | ||
(3) (a) Where a candidate referred to in subsection (1)(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. | ||
(b) Where a candidate referred to in subsection (1)(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. | ||
(c) 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. | ||
(4) In this section ‘election expenses’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 52.”. | ||
(2) The Presidential Election (Reimbursement of Expenses) Regulations 2004 ( S.I. No. 442 of 2004 ) are revoked. |