The Standards in Public Office Commission is expected to recommend changes in the electoral laws, following difficulties encountered during the general election.
Yesterday the commission disclosed that 296 unsuccessful Dáil candidates declared that they had received nearly €275,000 worth of donations to run their campaigns.
However, three candidates, including the Green Party's Kildare South candidate, Mr J.J. Power, have so far failed to co-operate and now face the threat of prosecution.
Sinn Féin candidates received the most donations, getting €66,298.09 or 24.16 per cent of the total, although €12,971.04 was subsequently refunded to the donors.
The next-highest value of donations, usually from trade unions, was disclosed by candidates of the Labour Party, with €55,278.01, or 20.14 per cent of the total.
Unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidates got €51,288.62, or 18.69 per cent. Of this, €500 was refunded. Fine Gael candidates received €21,215.28. The Progressive Democrats' defeated candidates got €9,100.
The Green Party's unsuccessful candidates got €6,498.52, or 2.37 per cent, while those of the Socialist Party got €2,500 and the Workers' Party €1,900.
No donations were disclosed by Socialist Workers' Party or the Christian Solidarity Party candidates. Under the law, unsuccessful candidates must disclose donations in cash, goods or services above €634.87.
Despite running information campaigns, the commission found that a number of candidates failed properly to understand the need to keep donations in a separate account.
In some cases, they failed to lodge all donations above €126.97 to the proper account, while in others bills were paid from personal bank accounts.
"We went around the country telling people what to do. But our problem is that we don't know the full list of candidates until two weeks out from the election," said an SPOC spokesman last night.
The 165 TDs who were elected on May 17h will have to produce a similar certificate to the commission by January 2003 or face up to three years in jail.
Most unsuccessful candidates produced donation statements on time, although the commission referred the files of eight non-co-operating candidates to the Garda.
Garda involvement spurred five to co-operate. However, Mr Power, a brother of the Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Sean Power, and two Louth candidates, Mr Frank Godfrey and Liam O Cógain, have still not obeyed.
The Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin South East, Mr Chris Andrews, topped the donations league among the unsuccessful candidates. He declared that he received €13,870. The Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin South Central, Mr Nicky Kehoe, who received €12,570, came second.
Eight candidates revealed that they had received donations above the permitted limit of €2,539.48. The necessary refunds were made to the donors in all cases, said the commission.
