Sinn Fein counted some of Hollywood's biggest stars among the party's American donors. Several film industry celebrities donated money to the party during a trip by Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to the US west coast, where he spoke at a fundraising event in Culver City, the LA suburb synonymous with Hollywood movie-making.

Waking Ned actor Fionnula Flanagan, who delivered the welcoming address at the November 1998 fundraiser in the Track 16 Art Gallery, has donated $3,000 over the years, according to documents filed with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 database.

The Act requires every agent of a foreign principal to register agreements with, income from and expenditures on behalf of the foreign principal with the US Department of Justice.

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Actor Martin Sheen and Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen also donated $1,000 each. Sheen's mother Mary Ann Phelan was from Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, and emigrated to the US during the Irish War of Independence.

Dennis Hopper of Easy Rider fame made two separate donations of $300 to the organisation between 1998 and 1999. The actor died in 2010.

Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston donated $500 in 1995, although in the records her name is erroneously spelled "Angelica". Huston has attended Sinn Féin events and supported Martin McGuinness in his bid for the presidency in 2011.

Another donor was Irish-American businessman Donald R Keough, who donated $10,000 to Friends of Sinn Féin. In 2001, the Coca Cola Corporation, of which he was a former president and chief operating officer , is also listed as having donated $5,000.

Mr Keough died last month. His great-grandfather Michael Keough emigrated from Co Wexford in the 1840s. He was presented with honorary Irish citizenship by President Mary McAleese in 2007.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said of his passing: “A great Irishman and a great American, he will be sorely missed by all who knew him and leaves an enormous legacy including through his philanthropy.”