Universities and colleges contributed more than $70,000

Educational institutions have contributed more than $70,000 to Friends of Sinn Féin since the establishment of the organisation two decades ago, according to records filed with the US department of justice.

The largest amount listed from an educational institution was from Seton Hall University, a private Catholic university in New Jersey, which made three contributions totalling $28,000 between 1997 and 2001.

The largest sum of $25,000 related to a talk given by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams during his 1998 visit to the US.

In a response to a query from The Irish Times, a university spokeswoman said Mr Adams had spoken to the university's school of diplomacy and international relations on March 12th, 1998, as part of its world leaders forum.

Quinnipiac University, a private university in Connecticut, contributed $23,325 to the organisation in the six-month period to the end of October 2012. The contribution, listed in the filing as a speaker’s honorarium, relates to a lecture given by Mr Adams in September of that year entitled “Irish America and the Struggle for Freedom in Ireland” as part of events to mark the opening of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum located near two of the university’s campuses.

The contribution is not listed as a donation. Rather, it is listed as one of two “receipts that do not constitute routine donations” and under “other contributions and income”.

Speaker’s reimbursement A contribution of $1,407 from Le Moyne College is listed under the same category as a “speaker’s [expenses] reimbursement”.

In 2003, the College of St Rose, a private independent college in Albany, New York, contributed $10,000, shortly after Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness gave a talk there.

Others included the University of Massachusetts, which contributed $2,500 in 2000 after Mr Adams gave a graduation speech. A sum of $830 was listed from the University of Colorado after then Sinn Féin Dublin city councillor Christy Burke gave a talk in 1999.

Drew University paid a €1,000 speaker's fee when Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson gave a talk there in 2011.

Contributions of up to $1,630 were made by Grinnell College, Oberlin College, Loyola College in Maryland and Molloy College between 1998 and 2011.