Over €40k donated to President Higgins' election campaign

U2's The Edge and owner of Dublin restaurant Chapter One, Ross Lewis, were among the people who donated to President Michael D Higgins' election campaign last year.

President Higgins received the most donations, at €41,300, from more than 40 individual donors.

He also spent the most money on his campaign - over €367,000 - according to a report by the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Peter Casey, who came second in the race, incurred the least expenses, disclosing costs of almost €120,000.

President Higgins and Mr Casey qualified for reimbursement of election expenses, and the total certified for payment was €319,911.30.

Senator Joan Freeman, Sean Gallagher, Liadh Ni Riada, and Gavin Duffy, who spent between €163k and €253k each are all out of pocket having not reached the quota to qualify to be reimbursed.

Overall election expenses of €1.36m were disclosed, a decrease of 41% on the €2.32m figure reported for the 2011 election.