Donations received by Fianna Fáil politicians last year dwarfed those received by members of all the other political parties, it emerged last night.
TDs, senators and former Oireachtas members in Fianna Fáil received €296,493.05 from political supporters. This represented 63.3 per cent of the €468,760 received by politicians from all parties.
Those donating money to Fianna Fáil included major building, property, publican, legal and business interests, in addition to individual party supporters.
Figures disclosed by the Standards in Public Office Commission show that Labour politicians received €61,568.84 and Fine Gael members received €43,899.87. Other donations were smaller. Sinn Féin politicians raised €15,289; PD politicians received €8,050 and Green Party members received €7,750. Independent TDs and senators received €35,709.41.
The donations were raised by individual politicians during a general election year, when candidates receive money to fund their campaigns. They must disclose all donations of more than €637.87.
However, the sums received by the politicians are undoubtedly greater as there is no requirement to disclose donations of less than €126.97. It is also likely that some of the 194 politicians who had no donations of more than €637.87 to disclose received donations of less than €126.97.
The overwhelming majority of donations were received by TDs. Dáil members received €384,618.89 or 82.1 per cent of all donations. Senators received €36,473.22 and MEPs received €15,674.74. The balance of €31,993.32 was received by former TDs and senators.
While the €34,723 received by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, was the greatest sum received by any politician, recipients of large sums within Fianna Fáil were not confined to the Cabinet.
The 10 Fianna Fáil TDs who received more than €10,000 included the Dublin TD, Mr Eoin Ryan, who received €17,900. Those who gave money to Mr Ryan included the businessmen Mr Ken Rohan and Mr Ken McDonald and the building firms Cosgrave Development and Pierse Contractors.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, received €17,469. Those giving money to Mr Kitt included the businessman Mr Larry Flynn of York Construction, Mr Niall O'Carroll of KPMG, Mr Martin Rafferty of United Drug and Mr Paul Newman of Douglas Newman Good.
The Dublin TD, Mr Michael Mulcahy, received €13,266. The legal firm Noel Smyth & Partners was among those who gave money to him. The Kilkenny TD, Mr John McGuinness, received €11,200. His supporters included the Kilkenny businesses, McCorry Construction, Melville Developments and O'Keeffe Auctioneers.
In addition, the Kildare TD, Mr Sean Power, received €12,000 and the Meath TD, Ms Mary Wallace, received €13,038. The former Minister of State, Mr Joe Jacob, received €14,400.
Blarney Woollen Mills in Cork gave €1,250 to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, and the same sum to his Cork colleague, Mr Noel O'Flynn.
The Government chief whip, Ms Mary Hanafin, received €3,700. Ms Hanafin's husband, Mr Eamon Leahy SC, gave €1,400 to her brother, Senator John Hanafin. He received €1,600 from his parents, Ms Des Hanafin and Ms Mona Hanafin.
The biggest recipient of donations in Fine Gael was the Louth TD, Mr Fergus O'Dowd, who received €4,539.48. The Kerry TD, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, received €3,393. Mr John Deasy TD received €2,743.3 from his father, Mr Austin Deasy. He had to return €203 as the sum broke the prescribed individual limit of €2,539.48.
The biggest recipient in Labour was the former party leader and Dublin TD, Mr Ruairí Quinn, who received €5,750. The Cork TD, Ms Kathleen Lynch, received €4,970.
The PD TD in Galway, Mr Noel Grealish, received €2,050 and his Dublin colleague, Ms Fiona O'Malley TD, received €1,000. The party's senator, Mr John Minihan, received €5,000.
The biggest recipient in the Green Party was the Dublin TD, Mr John Gormley, who received €2,750. His Cork colleague, Mr Dan Boyle, received €1,500.
Money raised by the political parties is separately disclosed by the Standards in Public Office Commission, which was set up under ethics legislation to police the donation limits to individual politicians and parties.