Five political parties failed to provide a statement of accounts for last year according to the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO)
The Commission noted Aontú, Identity Ireland, the National Party, Renua and the Workers Party did not supply the necessary documents in their annual report published today.
The Commission says it is very concerned Renua and Aontú failed to meet their obligations, but no action will be taken as they are no longer 'qualified parties' as they did not meet the threshold of votes in the last general election.
The Electoral Act 1997 requires all registered political parties to supply SIPO with annual accounts by June 30th each year.
The Commissions report relating to 2019 accounts found that nine parties fully complied with the obligations, while eight parties "provided a statement of accounts or correspondence that did not comply with the Act".
The compliant parties were; Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour Party, Green Party, Sinn Féin, Kerry Independent Alliance, Solidarity – People Before Profit, Independents 4 Change and the Social Democrats.
The Communist Party of Ireland, Workers and Unemployed Action, Direct Democracy Ireland, Irish Freedom Party, United People and the Human Dignity Alliance all supplied unaudited accounts, while Fís Nua and the Irish Democratic Party supplied other submissions or correspondence by way of explanation.
According to the report, Fís Nua "stated that it had no income and expenditure in 2019" and it does not charge membership fees, nor does not take political donations, while the Irish Democratic Party only had €22 in its bank account for the past number of years.
The Commission concluded by recommending that smaller parties, such as those that receive no public funding, or small levels of private donations, be exempt from having to supply audited statements of accounts as unaudited statements should suffice.
