One of the donors who contributed to the almost €35,000 in political donations received last year by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, was involved in a tax settlement with the Revenue Commissioners worth over €2.4 million in 2001.
Details were published in Iris Oifigiúil in September 2001 of a settlement between the Revenue Commissioners and Pineview Construction, a company principally owned by Mr Noel Frisby, a Waterford-based builder.
At the time of the settlement, Mr Frisby blamed a tax scheme which "came adrift".
He said a Revenue audit covering an 11-year period had found the scheme not to be tax compliant.
In one of the biggest settlements of its kind ever published, Mr Frisby's company paid almost £1.8 million (€2.286 million) in arrears, interests and penalties to Revenue. A further £128,000 (€162,560) was paid personally by Mr Frisby, who is one of Waterford's best-known developers.
The Revenue audit covered a period from the mid-1980s up to 1996/97 and Mr Frisby stressed afterwards that his companies had no current tax "issues".
Mr Frisby and his wife, Ms Stephanie Taheny, were directors of Pineview Construction Ltd and now run Noel Frisby Construction Ltd, which contributed €1,269 to Minister Cullen last year.
Mr Frisby has been one of the most prolific builders in Waterford in recent years.
Large-scale residential developments his companies have been responsible for include Castlegrange, Cherrymount, Templar's Hall, College Court, Grange Manor and Ardkeen Village.
His company's promotional literature notes it has been "Building quality homes for over 20 years".
Other Waterford contributors to Mr Cullen included Mr Des Whelan, chief executive of the local radio station WLR FM, who donated €1,270, along with several prominent construction companies, publicans and architects.