199. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following sections after section 90:

“Subsidiary organisations

91. (1) Where a subsidiary organisation of a political party has—

(a) an income of €15,000 or less in a calendar year, or

(b) holds cash or similar assets, land or buildings of less than €40,000 in value at any time during a calendar year,

sections 85(1), 86(1) and 87(1) shall not apply and the appropriate officer of the political party shall not be required to prepare an annual statement of accounts for that subsidiary organisation.

(2) Where a subsidiary organisation of a political party—

(a) has an income greater than €15,000 but less than €40,000 in a calendar year,

(b) holds cash or similar assets, land or buildings valued at greater than €40,000 but less than €100,000 in value at any time during a calendar year, or

(c) has expenditure of €40,000 or less in that calendar year,

sections 86(1) and 87(1)(b) shall not apply and the annual statement of accounts for that subsidiary organisation shall not be required to be audited by a statutory auditor.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, where a subsidiary organisation of a political party—

(a) has income greater than €40,000 in a calendar year,

(b) holds cash or similar assets, land or buildings greater than €100,000 in value, or

(c) has expenditure greater than €40,000 in that calendar year,

the requirements of sections 85(1), 86(1) and 87(1) shall apply to that subsidiary organisation and the appropriate officer of the political party shall be required to prepare an annual statement of accounts for that subsidiary organisation and those annual statements of accounts shall be audited by a statutory auditor.

(4) For the purposes of calculating the amounts specified in subsections (1), (2) and (3), transfers, between a political party and a subsidiary organisation or between one subsidiary organisation and another subsidiary organisation of a political party, shall be excluded so as to avoid the double counting of such transfers.

Offences and penalties

92. (1) The appropriate officer shall be guilty of an offence if he or she—

(a) fails to keep, or cause to be kept, all proper and usual books of accounts under section 84,

(b) fails to prepare an annual statement of accounts in respect of each financial year under section 85,

(c) fails to furnish an annual statement of accounts and a copy of the auditor’s report no later than the end of the period provided for in section 87,

(d) fails to furnish an annual statement of accounts and a copy of the auditor’s report to the Standards in Public Office Commission, or

(e) knowingly furnishes a statement of accounts to the Standards in Public Office Commission which is false or misleading in any material respect.

(2) It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the person charged with the offence to show that he or she took all reasonable steps to avoid the commission of the offence.

(3) Where a person is guilty of an offence under this section—

(a) the person shall be liable on summary conviction to a class D fine,

(b) the person shall be liable, where the offence is an offence referred to in paragraphs (b), (d) or (e) of subsection (1), on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000 to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 years or to both, and

(c) where the conviction relates to a failure to furnish an annual statement of accounts and a copy of the auditor’s report referred to in section 87, the person shall be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the failure continues after such conviction and for each such offence the person shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding €100.

(4) Summary proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by the Standards in Public Office Commission. ”.