The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, has paid tribute to the "spectacular" returns achieved by the six fund management firms participating in this year's Rehab Great Investment Race.
Looking to the €240,375 gain that was in place as the contest closed at the end of last month, Ms Harney joked that the fund managers might consider doing some work for the Minister for Finance as their next project.
"I wish we had thought of something like this for political fundraising," Ms Harney remarked, as she presented awards to the six competing fund managers to mark their participation in the charitable effort.
"It's terrific that people who are so busy give so much time," she said, congratulating them for their "spirit of volunteerism".
She said Rehab, which plans to use the returns from this year's race to help fund regional centres for autistic children, was a "fantastic organisation".
In the end, there were few surprises at the top of the race, with Bank of Ireland Asset Management's (BIAM) soaring performance in earlier months ensuring that it stayed ahead at the close.
Accepting his first-place award, BIAM's Mr Chris Reilly expressed satisfaction at the benefits that Rehab would draw from the competition. He acknowledged that his one-stock strategy (which saw his portion of the overall pot entirely placed in McInerney for much of the race) had been risky, but said it was appropriate at the time.
Having accounted for almost two-thirds of the gain recorded across the entire race, he was awarded the benefit of the doubt.
Moving down the table, the competition element of the race became more obvious, with most managers jockeying for second position in the overall table last month. The position finally went to Montgomery Oppenheim, which made a 13.6 per cent gain in October, and a 37.2 per cent return over the race as a whole. Fund manager Mr Séamus Kelly traded actively right up to the close, buying and selling individual stocks such as Philips, Hilton Group and Alcatel.
The strategy pushed Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) down from second to third position, with an overall return of 23.3 per cent.
ILIM's Mr Séamus Magner, who had endured a poor September, was also an active trader last month, with his penchant for French futures in evidence.
His 0.1 per cent October return was based on trades in stocks such as Aegon, AIB and Ryanair.
KBC Asset Management moved up from fifth to fourth position in October after posting a 6.3 per cent gain on the month. The performance, which came on full investment in equities, left fund manager Mr Noel O'Halloran with an overall return of €16,151 for Rehab.
Mr O'Halloran, who invested in funds rather than individual stocks, said he had benefited particularly from the US markets and the stronger dollar in October. He said he may choose more individual stocks if given the chance to run the race again.
Hibernian Investment Managers' (HIM) Mr Roy Asher made similar comments, suggesting that he may, in retrospect, have been too cautious with his investment choices.
He said HIM had remained in cash for the final month of the race because the firm "felt most of the good news was already in the equity markets". The strategy delivered a monthly return of 0.1 per cent and left HIM with an overall gain of 13.5 per cent.
One of the best returns on the month came from Setanta Asset Management, where fund manager Mr Gary Connolly bought and sold stocks such as Lafarge, St Gobain and Cisco.
This approach delivered a 4.8 per cent return but did not succeed in lifting Setanta's allocation into profit. The company ended the race with a 3.7 per cent decline in its initial €100,000 fund, with Mr Connolly describing October as a month for "damage limitation".
He said the final result was a "big disappointment" for Setanta. Reflecting on his performance over the race, he said the strategy of spreading the fund over five or six stocks at any given time had been the wrong one for much of the race.
"It was really a period which rewarded the 'sit and hold' strategy and that's not what we did," he said.
