Failed election candidates got €274,000 in donations

Figures released today show over a quarter of a million euro was donated to fund the campaigns of unsuccessful candidates in May's General Election.

The Standards in Public Office Commission report shows donations with a total value of €274,466 were disclosed by the 298 unsuccessful candidates.

They were required to disclose all donations over €634 they received. Eight revealed they had been donated money over the statutory limit of €2,539.48, resulting in almost €17,000 being returned to donors.

Eight files were referred to the Gardaí due to failure by candidates to furnish a completed donation statement. All but three have since been received.

Mr Chris Andrews (Fianna Fáil) disclosed the highest donations, at €13,870. This was followed by Sinn Féin's Mr Nicky Kehoe with €12,570, Mr Dan Kiely (FF) at €11,000 and Ms Kathy Sinnott (Independent) with €10,829.

Of the political parties, Sinn Féin candidates disclosed donations with the highest value at €66,298, or 24 per cent of the total.

The next highest declared donations were to candidates from the Labour Party (€55,278), Fianna Fáil (€51,288), Fine Gael (€21,215), the Progressive Democrats (€9,100), the Green Party (€6,498), the Socialist Party (€2,500) and the Workers' Party (€1,900). No donations were disclosed by candidates of the Socialist Workers Party or the Christian Solidarity Party.

Independent candidates disclosed donations of €60,387.77, which comprised 22 per cent of the total.

The largest single donor was Sinn Féin, which gave €43,511 to its candidates, of which €12,971 was refunded for exceeding of the statutory limit. Fine Gael donated €5,790, Fianna Fáil gave €5,437, the Labour Party €3,873, the Green Party €2,239 and the Workers' Party gave €900.

The second largest donor was SIPTU which gave €26,900 to Labour Party candidates. Three other unions - ASTI, INTO and MSF - also made donations.

Members of the Dáil will be required to furnish a donation statement in January disclosing donations valued at more than €634.87 that they received during 2002.