Legislation governing the spending of candidates in the May 2002 general election required candidates to state in writing what amount of their spending limit they proposed to assign to their political party, the High Court was told yesterday.
However, Mr Brian Allen, Secretary of the Standards in Public Office Commission, said there was no legislative requirement setting out when the assignment should be made by candidates and nor was there any provision detailing the format of the written assignation.
He agreed with Mr Justice Kelly that guidelines issued by the Public Office Commission prior to the election could only have given the impression to potential candidates that they should make the assignment "before or during" the election.
He was giving evidence in the continuing hearing of a petition, brought by disability campaigner Ms Kathy Sinnott and Mr Mark Menihane, an elector in Cork South Central, aimed at overturning the result of the general election in the constituency in May 2002 where the Minister for Health, Mr Micheal Martin, topped the poll. Ms Sinnott lost the last seat to Fianna Fáil's John Dennehy by a margin of six votes.
Ms Sinnott claims Mr Martin exceeded the legal spending limit of € 38,092 and that this had a material effect on the outcome of the election. The essence of her case is that Mr Martin assigned half of his limit to Fianna Fáil, and personally spent € 21,430, making a total of more than € 40,000. She also claims he didn't include in his return all of the expenses incurred from public funds.
Mr Martin agrees he did sign an undertaking prior to the 2002 election stating he was assigning 50 per cent of his spend to Fianna Fáil. However, he says he did this in the context of an agreement with the party's finance director, Mr Hugh Dolan, to the effect the assigned amount could be reduced by up to € 6,400.
In the event, it is claimed on behalf of Mr Martin that his spending return had assigned to Fianna Fáil a figure of € 15,546.
Yesterday, Mr Allen told Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for Mr Martin, that he had reviewed spending returns after the May 2002 election. There was nothing in the national return from Fianna Fáil's finance director, Mr Hugh Dolan, that caused concern.
The spending returns submitted in December 2002 by Mr Martin's agent and by Mr Dolan, indicated that Mr Martin had assigned a total of € 15,546 to Fianna Fáil. This would meet the Commission's requirements for an assignment in writing.
Cross-examined by Mr John Rogers SC, for Ms Sinnott, Mr Allen said that in Mr Martin's case, he understood there was a spreadsheet which recorded that Mr Martin would have access, if required, to a maximum € 6,400 from the € 19,046 amount. He agreed that if the document signed by Mr Martin undertaking to assign half of his limit to the party was the only document in existence, then Mr Dolan would be under the impression that € 19,046 had been assigned by Mr Martin to Fianna Fáil.
However, he was not sure the written undertaking was the only document available to Mr Dolan, Mr Allen added.
The hearing continues today.
