Ex-minister Callely tops donations list

Former Minister of State Ivor Callely received almost half the total donations made to all Irish politicians last year, it emerged today.

Mr Callely, who resigned last December, was given €69,600 of the total of €147,526 received by TDs, Senators and MEPs in 2005, according to figures published by the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Fianna Fáil members were by far the most active fundraisers, receiving almost 13 times as much as all the other parties combined.

The donations included money, property, goods and services but only gifts valued at more than €634.87 need to be disclosed and Mr Callely was the undisputed leader.

Of his total figure of €69,600 most donations are described as cheques for a golf classic, and the 40 donors are all listed as “individuals”.

Mr Callely provoked fury among his Government colleagues last December when his resignation overshadowed what was seen by many as a give-away budget.

The ex-minister explained his actions on the Pat Kenny show on the day after the budget announcement, meaning Finance Minister Brian Cowen was forced to wait for his chance to discuss the budget with listeners.

Mr Callely eventually left his job in the Department of Transport reluctantly after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern threatened to sack him.

Mr Ahern was forced to take action after it emerged the top building firm, John Paul Construction, had paid for the painting of Mr Callely’s Clontarf home in the early 1990s when it was then refurbishing the Dublin office of the Eastern Health Board. Mr Callely was chairman of the board at the time.

The Standards in Public Office Commission list revealed that in 2005:

:: Members of Fianna Fáil received €136,962;

:: Members of Fine Gael received €5,824;

:: Members of the Labour Party received €3,740;

:: Non-party members received €1,000.

No donations valued in excess of €634.87 were disclosed by members of the Progressive Democrats, the Green Party, Sinn Féin or the Socialist Party.

A total of 233 Donation Statements were received in relation to 2005.

:: TDs received donations valued at €139,602;

:: Senators received donations valued at €7,924;

:: No donations were disclosed by MEPs.

The Taoiseach declared a donation of €18,000 for 2005 through the provision of a constituency office by Fianna Fáil, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea declared donations of €7,750, while donations were also declared by junior ministers Batt O’Keeffe, Sean Power and Brendan Smith.

According to the guidelines, if the same donor makes more than one donation to a TD, Senator or MEP during a calendar year, the values of the donations must be aggregated and disclosure made if the total is greater than €634.87.

All TDs, Senators and MEPs are prohibited from accepting foreign donations or from accepting anonymous donations exceeding a value of €126.97.

They are also prohibited from accepting donations with a total value exceeding €2,539.48 from the same person in the same year.

No foreign, anonymous or excess donations were disclosed in 2005.