The suspended Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes has returned €1,500 of a €2,500 donation he received on the fundraising website GoFundMe.
Mr Hayes used the site to raise more than €8,000 for his general election campaign in Dublin Bay South.
He confirmed to The Irish Times on Wednesday that he has returned €1,500 of the €2,500 donated to his campaign by a person who did not disclose their name publicly.
Under funding laws, the maximum allowable donation to a politician from an individual is €1,000, falling to €100 if the person remains anonymous.
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Any amount over the limit must be returned to the donor by the deadline after the election when candidates must declare their donations to the Standards in Public Office Commission.
Mr Hayes was suspended by the party on Tuesday after he admitted he divested shares in a company which supplied military technology to Israel for €199,000 only in July this year, a month after being elected to be a member of Dublin City Council.
He had previously said he had sold the shares before becoming a public representative.
Deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan said the party was due to hold a meeting of its National Executive on Wednesday night to discuss the situation.
Asked by reporters if there was any route back into the party for Mr Hayes, he replied: “There’s going to be a full review of everything related to this so we’re not at the point now in terms of knowing what will happen in the future.”
Mr Hayes has said he intends to sit as an Independent TD once the Dáil resumes on December 18th.
A party spokeswoman said while people donating to a GoFundMe campaign can opt not to have their names publicly displayed, their identity will be known to the candidates. “This is the case in this instance,” she said.
She said Mr Hayes was in the process of repaying the excess and his SIPO returns would reflect the alteration in due course.
The details of the donations were included in Mr Hayes’ GoFundMe page until it was taken down by the TD on Tuesday.
A number of other Social Democrats TDs have used GoFundMe pages to raise election funds, including Sinéad Gibney who raised more than €16,000 for her European and Dáil campaigns. All her donations were below the allowable threshold.
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