TDs, Senators and MEPs have disclosed donations worth £173,513.51 received in 1999 to the Public Offices Commission in statements and declarations filed under the Electoral Acts.
Of the 243 donation statements received by the Public Offices Commission, just 39 contained disclosures of donations. The fact that 204 had no disclosures to make reflects the fact that 1999 was not a general election year, and only MEPs and local authority candidates were involved in election campaigns.
Indeed, 43.3 per cent of the total declared - £75,134 - was given to MEPs. TDs received £83,261.35 or 48 per cent of the total, with Senators getting £15,117,71, just 8.7 per cent of the amount declared. Under the Electoral Acts, TDs, Senators and MEPs must declare individual donations of cash, goods, services and property worth over £500 in any one year.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, valued at £7,590 the use of his constituency office at St Luke's in Drumcondra paid for by Fianna Fail. Fine Gael's Mr Gay Mitchell TD declared secretarial assistance valued at £10,000 received from IMPAC Ltd, while the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, Dr McDaid, reported the rent of a constituency office by the party's Milford Comhairle Dail Ceantair to the value of £6,240. Three Labour Party deputies reported the use of premises supplied to them by SIPTU.
Mr Sean Haughey disclosed a donation of £1,000 from Mr Oliver Barry, the concert promoter and businessman, who gave £35,000 in cash to Mr Ray Burke in 1989. Other donations declared include the use of an Alfa Romeo car by Mr Ivor Callely TD, a donation estimated to be worth £1,000. Mr Callely also received donations worth £1,400 from Eircell and £400 from Nokia.
A number of construction-related companies made political donations in 1999, with the Rohan Group giving £1,000 to Senator Liam Cosgrave's local election campaign, Grange Building Supplies giving £1,000 to Mr Michael Joe Cosgrave TD's local election campaign and O'Malley Construction giving £500 to Minister of State Mr Noel Treacy. Members of Fianna Fail received the highest proportion of the donations, getting £65,024 or 37.5 per cent of the total, just slightly below its share of the national vote in recent polls.
Other parties also received donations roughly in proportion to their national support, with Fine Gael members receiving £55,270.46 (31.9 per cent). Labour got £29,207.35 (16.8 per cent), Independents received £11,691 (6.7 per cent), the Green Party got £8,115.10 (4.7 per cent) with the Progressive Democrats receiving £4,205 (2.4 per cent).