Sinn Féin political donations way down

POLITICAL donations to Sinn Féin fell dramatically last year after new rules banned political parties from accepting donations from abroad.

In 2001, the party received €400,000 in political donations, the vast majority of which came from the US.

However, figures released yesterday by the Standards in Public Office Commission show Sinn Féin received just €12,348 last year, all of which was contributed by two of their own deputies, Martin Ferris and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

The Commission’s figures show that six political parties received donations totalling €265,799 in 2002.

That figure reflects new rules introduced last year limiting the amount any individual or company is allowed to donate to one party. The corresponding figure for 2001 before the new rules were implemented shows almost €1m was raised through political donations.

In addition to funds received through donations, political parties also shared almost €10.5m of Exchequer funds between them. Of that, more than half went to party leaders under the Party Leaders Allowance legislation.

Fianna Fáil received almost €2m from the taxpayer of which all but €39 was spent last year. Fine Gael received almost €1.2m but left more than €250,000 unspent.

Significantly, while Labour used Exchequer funds to invest heavily in the promotion of woman in politics, neither Fianna Fáil, the Progressive Democrats nor Fine Gael allocated any funds to promoting the participation of women.

Of his €2m leaders’ fund Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, spent almost €20,000 on entertainment and close to €70,000 on transport.

Of the six parties who received political donations, only the Socialist party received less than Sinn Féin at just €5,700, while the Green Party received just €300 more than the republican party.

Seven parties disclosed no political donations whatsoever, including Fine Gael who maintained a strict policy of eliminating corporate donations from their fundraising.

As expected, Fianna Fáil were boosted by hefty donations from an assortment of individuals, businesses and property developers and topped the poll declaring donations worth €193,539.

Almost €10,500 of that amount was refunded to donors who exceeded the statutory amount the party is allowed to receive from any one donor.

Under the Electoral Act, 1997 parties must publish details of all donations exceeding €5,078 while no more than €6,348 can be accepted from any one donor.

Figures on donations smaller than €5,000, of which there are many, are not available. Controversially, one of Fianna Fáil’s largest donors last year, with a contribution of €6,000, was Bovale Developments.

Bovale featured significantly in the Flood Tribunal in which it was found to have obstructed the tribunal’s investigations into payments to politicians.

Other significant Fianna Fáil donors included Treasury Holdings (€6,349) of Barrow Street in Dublin and the Spencer Dock Development Company (€6,349) of the same address.

Significant Cork donors to Fianna Fáil included Bantry’s Murnane and O’Shea Limited and Musgrave Limited. Both companies donated in excess of €5,000.

Individual donors include Ray Stokes who gave €6,000 and Noel O’Callaghan of O’Callaghan Hotels who gave €6,250.

One of the largest donors to the Progressive Democrats who received €23,202 in total was budget airline Ryanair which donated €5,451 to the party. The remaining parties received donations primarily from their own TDs.