53. Must reports from political parties and/or candidates include information on itemized income?

Ireland has developed a thorough system of regulation of party finance, which has been coupled, in practice, with the proactive and independent monitoring and advisory role played by the Standards in Public Office Commission. That said, further steps need to be taken in order to further increase transparency and to enhance control in this area. In particular, although donations (over a certain threshold) and expenditure (exchequer and election spending) statements are published, it is crucial that full party accounts, including itemised information on the total annual income and expenditure, debts and assets of political parties, are also made publicly available.

Source: GRECO (2009) Evaluation Report on Ireland, Transparency of Party Funding (Theme II), p. 27.