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NINE OF IRELAND’S 20 political parties failed to comply with legislation that says they must submit audited statements of accounts to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).
Under the electoral act political parties must disclose their accounts to the commission which is tasked with overseeing the ethics of those who hold public office.
In its 2016 report on political parties’ statements of accounts SIPO revealed that there was a total of 20 political parties on the Register of Political Parties for the year.
Three parties were found to be non-compliant while another six had not furnished any accounts at all.
The Communist Party of Ireland, Direct Democracy Ireland and the Workers & Unemployed Action Group, which is chaired by Tipperary South TD Séamus Healy, all submitted some statement of accounts to SIPO but they were found not to be compliant because the accounts were not audited.
The commission has the power to appoint a public auditor to examine the parties’ books however it decided against doing so in these cases because none of the parties received any funding from the exchequer.
Of the six parties who did not submit any paperwork at all one no longer exists, one made no financial transactions in the year and two (Fís Nua and Identity Ireland) do not have bank accounts.
In the report SIPO expressed the view that smaller parties, particularly those that receive no funding from the exchequer, should be exempt from furnishing audited statements.
The Standards Commission agrees that the requirement to furnish statements should remain, but that it is unnecessary in these circumstances for the statements to be audited.
SIPO made the same recommendation in its 2015 report.
The commission published its annual report in July. That report revealed that SIPO sent 66 files to the gardaí concerning possible offences relating to the general election in 2016.
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The EU moto is ‘Unity in Diveristy’. Not much Unity if less than half the member states can decide the course of the Union.
I think you said it all there Ryan
People voted for this in the Lisbon Treaty. So they haven’t a leg to stand on now.
It is all very fucked though.
Ah the big boys are becoming worried ……
The Treaty is the stumbling block…
the Dow Jones and The Wall St Journal???….
It is all coming ot now.
Time to get out of the Euro.
Stand up to these Economic Terrorists.
Once again, Europe is not suffering from a “Democratic Deficit”; it is however, suffering from a Dictatorial Surplus.
Again we have the usual build up just in case a referendum is needed. Already I can see the “sky is falling” arguments that will come from those lesser gifted members of the public who sit in the Dáil. But they have already told us we won’t need another bailout so we can happily vote against this treaty if it goes to a referendum, isn’t that right boys?
Pull on your green jersey Mark! Pull it on I say!!
“orders must be obeyed at all times without question”!
Mercozy will get what they want one way or another….we don’t have any true politicians within the government to tell them to go fuck themselves.
By the time the treaty is agreed and signed chances are that Sarkozy won’t be the president of France anymore. The French presidential election takes place in April/May this year and he is trailing the socialist candidate François Hollande in all of the recent opinion polls by quite a distance. I don’t think Hollande will have the same approach to this problem that Sarkozy has so it could be interesting to see what happens if the gets elected.
Barring something strange Merkel has until September next year to stay in power but the smaller party in her coalition government is being hammered in the polls at the moment so who knows what might happen.
Yes I saw that last night on twitter and the fear factor will now be cranked into panic mode.
If we don’t sign they eu will not fund us that appears to be the mantra.
Well mr and mrs EU if that’s the case then you leave us no choice but to declare we are paying nobody else.
The E U would never allow that as the confusion and panic it would put the markets in would be massive.
However Mr and Mrs E U give us a 66% write down and I am sure we could persuade Market.
There is a massive assumption that we have to dance to a tune but let’s get some people to go on the offensive now by saying we will delay NOT default on next weeks payment of 1.25 million and see what trees that rattles.
We cannot just sit back and take this.
The E U would have more respect for us if we fought back.
Very true. We have gutless politicians with no backbone. So much for a EU of equals.
Sorry 1.25 billion
While Merkosy struggle to maintain a united front on how to proceed, division rather than concensus is growing at national level in the rest of Europe. Considerable arm twisting will, no doubt, be applied.
Only Ireland has a chance of a referendum and we must not be bullied into accepting this treaty. This crisis cannot become a vehicle for crushing democratic principles and leading to even more instability.
Petition attached for those who believe this decision is too important to be left to government.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/call-for-a-referendum-on-the-esm-treaty/
Finlands misgivings over Europes current direction.
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-19/finland-derides-crisis-as-excuse-for-eroding-sovereignty.html
Draft treaty in full.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9026142/The-EU-fiscal-draft-treaty-in-full.html
Let the scaremongering begin………We’ll go bust before next Christmas without it………….We’ll be kicked outta Europe………Merkel will eat your first born if we don’t sign. Please, save me the scare tactics.
Let’s scare them “ok guys we are declaring a default now fuck off to the insurers and get paid ”
It’s risky who stands to loose more e u system and world trade agreements or us?
Excellent Mark, couldn’t have said it better myself. However, prepare yourself for the inevitable bulls–t when they tell us they were taken “out of context” when they told us that lie.
A yes.The two teir europe is coming.Looks like those who dont sign up to this will be kicked to the kirb.
Which would mean we’d be away from the train wreck if we voted no to this thing, Can’t wait to see the majority No vote if there is a referendum I’d say it’ll be ultra-decisive.
Yep, proletariat, unite! Let’s build this utopia! The states that don’t want it are simply too stupid to think for themselves, so will will force onto them for their own good!
That first tweet doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
The treaty can only come into force for countries that sign up for it. So it shouldn’t matter whether its 1 country, 5, 12 or 27 that sign it. The provision will only afffect those who agree to it.
For examply the UK has already said it won’t sign up for the treaty so therefore none of its rules will apply to the UK. The same would be true for any other country the didn’t sign up for it and a few of them are considering whether to do so or not.
The second tweet is fairly self-evident. If you want to avail of funds from the new mechanism then you agree to sign up to the rules that apply to it.
have your say