The biggest political parties received more than €6.5 million from the State last year to run their operations, and the amount is set to rise this year, the Public Offices Commission has said.
The money was paid under the Electoral Acts and the Party Leaders' Allowance system. It pays for staff salaries and administration, but it cannot be used for elections or referendums.
Fianna Fáil received the largest share of the money, which is divided amongst the parties on the basis of their vote in the previous election and their number of TDs in the Dáil.
In all, Fianna Fáil received €2.4 million, Fine Gael €2.3 million, Labour €1.2 million, the PDs €300,000, the Greens €180,000, Sinn Féin €125,000 and the Socialist Party just over €50,000.
Next year's figures will be higher because of changes made under legislation last year, while each party's share will change due to the results in last May's general election.
Most of the money was spent on general administration and salaries, although some was used for outside services such as public relations, research and policy preparation.
Under the Electoral Act, Fianna Fáil received €831,211, Fine Gael €596,664, Labour €252,931, the Progressive Democrats €117,543, the Greens €77,988 and Sinn Féin €73,717. The six parties, along with Socialist Party TD, Mr Joe Higgins, received further allocations under the Party Leaders' Allowance, said the Public Offices Commission.
Under this, Fianna Fáil received €1.56 million, while Fine Gael received substantially more in per capita terms, €1.7 million, and the Labour Party €956,454 because of its opposition status.
The Progressive Democrats received €182,055 under this heading, while the Greens got €102,344, Sinn Féin €51,172, and the Socialist Party €51,172.
Curiously, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael did not use their full allocations under the Parliamentary Party Allowance, spending just €946,278 and €1.43 million respectively. The former leader of Fine Gael, Mr Michael Noonan, received €46,463 and the leader of the Labour Party received €19,046 "in respect of duties arising from his or her activities".
The Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act, 2001, means that qualifying political parties and Independent TDs will see their parliamentary allowances increase substantially from this year.
Under this, the Opposition's political parties with 10 members or less will receive an annual allowance of €48,547 for each TD, but they will also get a further €15,872 for each senator.
Opposition parties with between 10 and 30 members will receive €38,837 for each TD and €31,743 for each senator, while those with more than 30 members will receive €19,423 per TD and €15,872 per senator.
The allowances will be reduced by one-third for parties which get into government, on the grounds that they benefit from being in power. Independent TDs, however, are to be paid an extra allowance of €27,934. Independent senators will get €15,872.
Created in 1938 by Mr Sean McEntee during his time as Minister for Finance, the Party Leaders' Allowance system was used for election bills until this was prohibited by the 1995 McKenna judgment.
Following pressure from the Labour Party last year, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, agreed to an amendment that means that political parties will not lose out if they merge in future. However, parties will continue to keep the allowance paid for a member during the life of a Dáil or Seanad if that person defects to another party or becomes an Independent.
