A Dublin businessman, Mr Denis O'Brien, contributed £5,000 to. Fine Gael funds before the Wicklow by election last June, The Irish Times has learned.
The donation was in response to a letter from Fine Gael to him and other business people seeking funds. The party would not confirm or deny receiving a donation.
Mr O'Brien yesterday on the that such donations were Under the Electoral due to become law this year, political parties will have to name any individual or organisation that gives more than £4,000.
Mr O'Brien is chairman of Esat Telecom, part of the Esat Digifone consortium which won the licence to operate the State's second mobile phone licence last October. His company holds 40 per cent of the consortium, the Norwegian State company Telenor holds 40 per cent, with the remainder held by an Irish institutional investor or investors.
He also owns a 65 per cent stake in the holding company which owns the Dublin radio station Classic Hits 98FM.
Mr O'Brien was one of over 120 people who attended a Fine Gael fund raising lunch in the Glenview Hotel, Co Wicklow, last June 22nd. The Taoiseach and several Fine Gael Ministers were at the function, where guests were charged £100 each.
The cheque from Mr O'Brien is understood to have included donations to the party arising from his attendance at least one other Fine Gael function.
Fine Gael's Wicklow organisation went into the by election with a debt of £14,000 and emerged with it cleared, having spent £30,000 on the campaign. The seat was won by the independent candidate, Ms Mildred Fox.
Esat, the consortium in which Mr O'Brien is involved, was one of six bidders for the potentially lucrative franchise to operate a new GSM mobile phone network in the State for the next 15 years. A Danish consultancy company, Andersen Management International, graded the six bids according to a number of criteria. The final decision was made by the Minister for Communications, Mr Lowry.
A spokeswoman for Esat said last night the company "subscribes to a number of political parties and other organisations when requested to do so and has supported functions and events run by political parties when invited.
"We consider this as an obligation in supporting the democratic process. We also support Greenpeace, Amnesty and a large number of charities and community groups. Esat is happy and proud to be in a position to make these contributions to democratic organisations."
Earlier yesterday, Mr O'Brien said: "I don't talk to The Irish Times at all." He said this was since a particular article had appeared in this newspaper five weeks ago, and because he viewed its coverage of the telecommunications sector as "too statist for our liking".