Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 12, line 1, to delete “accounts;” and substitute “accounts; to provide for the holding of fundraising lotteries by political parties;”.

In my concluding remarks on the Committee Stage, I signalled that consideration would be given to bringing forward an amendment to the Bill on Report Stage to allow political parties to apply for a lottery licence in support of their fundraising activities. The insertion of a new section 172 into the Bill, the consequential amendments to the Bill’s Long Title and the amendments to sections 2 and 5 of the Bill are intended to address this issue.

At the outset I would like to clarify that this amendment is intended to provide that registered political parties may apply to the District Court for a licence to run periodical lotteries to support their fundraising activities and may do so under the provisions of this Bill when enacted as an alternative to applying under section 28 of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956 to 2019. For the avoidance of doubt, these provisions do not specifically propose to introduce a new source or sources of funding for political parties but are intended to provide that any lotteries previously operated by political parties, whether referred to as draws, raffles, sweepstakes or otherwise, can continue to be run, subject to the requirements of the new Part 8.

This amendment is largely modelled on section 28 of the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956 to 2019. It is intended to be broadly consistent with the approach set out in the Act insofar as it relates to the operation of licensed lotteries specifically by registered political parties rather than by organisations solely with a charitable or philanthropic purpose. Under the Gaming and Lotteries Acts, a lottery is very broadly defined to include all competitions, for money or money’s worth, involving guesses or estimates of future events or past events, the results of which are not yet ascertained or generally known. Deputies may wish to note that this definition is clarified in an information leaflet issued by the Department of Justice, "Applying for a Lottery Licence", which advises that the types of lotteries licence under the Acts include raffles, draws, sweepstakes and bingo events.

I would like to clarify that paragraph 7 of the definition of "donation" is provided for in section 22(2)(a) of the Electoral Act 1997, which provides that the net value of a contribution made by a person in connection with an event organised for the purpose of raising funds for a political party falls within the meaning of a political donation. In practical terms, this means that the donations regime and the threshold set out therein applies to fundraising events organised by political parties. Further, the Standards in Public Office Commission has published guidelines for political parties on the steps to be taken concerning donations and prohibited donations. These guidelines are set out in the context of fundraising events and how the net value of contributions is calculated for the purposes of the donations regime.

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