Press Releases

Disclosure of Donations by TDs, Senators and MEPs 2005

Date Released: 30.03.2006

Further Information: Aidan Moore 01-639 5712 or 087 9175186

TDs, Senators and MEPs disclosed donations with a total value of €147,526 for 2005 according to figures published today by the Standards in Public Office Commission (the Standards Commission).

The donations included money, property, goods and services. Only donations valued at more than €634.87 require to be disclosed. If the same donor makes more than one donation to the same TD, Senator or MEP during a calendar year, the values of the donations must be aggregated and disclosure made if the total is greater than €634.87.

A total of 233 Donation Statements were received in relation to 2005 (this includes five TDs (Deputies Aylward, Coveney, Harkin, Mitchell and Ryan) and one Senator (Senator Jim Higgins) who are also MEPs and from whom a single Donation Statement is furnished in respect of their dual mandates). The donations disclosed can be broken down as follows:

TDs received donations valued at €139,602
Senators received donations valued at €7,924
No donations were disclosed by MEPs.

A breakdown of the donations received by political party shows that:

Members of Fianna Fáil received the highest proportion with a total value of €136,962
Members of Fine Gael received €5,824
Members of the Labour Party received €3,740
Non-party members received €1,000.

Senator John Hanafin (Fianna Fáil) also disclosed a donation of €1,600 for each of the years 2003 and 2004.

No donations valued in excess of €634.87 were disclosed by members of the Progressive Democrats, the Green Party, Sinn Féin or the Socialist Party.

TDs, Senators and MEPs are prohibited from accepting foreign donations or from accepting anonymous donations exceeding a value of €126.97. They are also prohibited from accepting donations with a total value exceeding €2,539.48 from the same person in the same year. No foreign, anonymous or excess donations were disclosed in respect of 2005.

The Standards Commission's report to the Ceann Comhairle concerning the Donation Statements received from TDs, Senators and MEPs in respect of 2005 is available on the website of the Standards Commission as are details of the donations disclosed to the Standards Commission.

Table 1 Donations disclosed by Fianna Fáil TDs

Table 2 Donations disclosed by Fine Gael TDs

Table 3 Donations disclosed by Labour Party TDs

Table 4 Donations disclosed by Non-Party TDs

Table 5 Donations disclosed by Fianna Fáil Senators

Table 6 Donations disclosed by Fine Gael Senators

Table 7 Donations disclosed in respect of 2003 and 2004

Issued by the Standards in Public Office Commission on 30 March 2006

email: sipo@sipo.gov.ie
Website: http://www.sipo.gov.ie

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