Mahon Tribunal Recommends New Financial Restrictions

The Mahon tribunal has recommended that courts should be allowed to ban members of the Oireachtas who are convicted of bribery from holding public office and to remove their pension rights.

In a series of recommendations, the tribunal has proposed a strengthening of regulations and the introduction of new sanctions to prevent corruption and bribery.

These include proposals that commercial entities convicted of engaging in bribery should be prohibited from tendering for public contracts for seven years.

And that a person who pays bribes to a public official to influence them in their public functions in the areas of planning and development should be banned from applying for planning permission for seven years except in relation to their own private residence.

The report also highlighted large political donations, saying that they “may in themselves exert a corrupting influence” even without the quid pro quo characteristic of bribery.

It recommends that legislation governing elections – the political finance acts – should be changed to place new limits on amounts that can be given in donations and that the definition of a “donation” should be widened to be seen as “any contribution given, used or received for political purposes”.

Anonymous or cash donations above €55 in a donation to an individual electoral candidate or elective representative and €175 for donations to a political party should be prohibited.

It states: “In order to avoid the possibility of multiple anonymous or cash donations being made in order to circumvent the donation amount restrictions, the tribunal is also recommending that an overall limit be placed on the amount which an individual, political party or third party may receive by way of anonymous donation, namely €2,000 for an individual and €5,000 for a political party or third party.”

Proposals in new legislation to lower these limits to €1,000 and €2,500 respectively has been welcomed by the tribunal saying that the current limits on the amounts which either an individual politician, a political party or a third party may accept from an individual donor are too high.

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