Party financing legislation, being published in the Government Gazette today, includes a constitutional amendment so that false declarations may lead to an MP being unseated.

The new legislation will not permit donations in excess of €40,000 while those over €7,000 will have to be declared by reference to their source in the party’s returns to the Electoral Commission.

The bill is to be moved in Parliament in the coming days and the government would like to have it debated before the summer recess.

If approved, it will come into force on next January 1.

Elected MPs have to submit a statement within 10 days of being elected and the commission must carry out verifications within a month.

The bill proposes that candidates may spend on their electoral campaign €20,000 for each district being contested in the case of a General Election, €50,000 in the case of a European Parliament election and €5,000 in the case of candidates of a local election.

It provides for a constitutional amendment for a mechanism through which, when an elected candidate files a false declaration of electoral expenses or incurs expenses in excess of the amounts permissible by law, that candidate will be unseated from the House by a decision of the Constitutional Court.

The bill can be read in the pdf link below