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FIGURES RELEASED BY the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) show that political parties disclosed donations worth €166,392 for 2014.
Fine Gael disclosed €102,567, with the Socialist Party dislosing the next highest amount: €30,405.
Fianna Fáil was the only major party not to receive a donation above €1,500 – the threshold at which contributions must be declared publicly.
Donations disclosed came to the following total amounts:
No other party disclosed any donations in 2014.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny was one of several TDs who made a financial donation to Fine Gael – €1,686.
TDs Paul Murphy and Joe Higgins made respective donations of €2,500 and €1,700 to the Anti-Austerity Alliance. The pair also made donations to the Socialist Party (€2,496 and €2,500). TD Joan Collins donated €2,500 to the United Left Alliance.
Trade unions Siptu and TSSA both made donations of €2,500 to Labour.
There were 18 political parties registered during 2014 to contest Dáil or European elections. Each of these parties was required to furnish a donation statement in respect of 2014 to Sipo by 31 March 2015.
The maximum value of donations which a political party could accept from the same donor in the same year was €2,500.
Four parties (Communist Party of Ireland, Direct Democracy Ireland, Independents for Equality Movement and the Workers’ Party) failed to furnish the required documentation to the commission by the specified date.
Of these four, Direct Democracy Ireland has not yet submitted the required statutory documentation and the commission referred a file on the matter to the gardaí on 1 May.
A full breakdown of donations received is available here.
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“Trade unions Siptu and TSSA both made donations of €2,500 to Labour.”
This is why workers should join independent Union that has no affiliation with the political establishment.
Siptu definitely need to go and TSSA too.
ok now show us the brown envelope chart
FG are morally bankrupt but have plenty of money.
How much was donated to Iona Institute?
To include tv license fee or international investors?
These figures were released by the Standards in Public Office Commission, seen as Iona aren’t in Public Office they won’t be included.
I think you missed the point, from the lack of any contributions from any other sources in Ireland, this “charity” seems to be a wholly funded subsidiary of RTE.
They have more In the bank than Fianna Fáil and are still living it up tax free! Sipo won’t investigate, neither will the charity regulator! The tax office have said it’s a private matter they cannot disclose and Micheal Noonan has refused on several occasions now to meet to receive a petition of 15,000 citizens of Ireland demanding an investigation. Money talks, or should I say silences
Rebecca, do we have the reasons why CRA (although they are pretty toothless from what I can gather) or SIPO will not investigate? Why has Noonan refused to meet and is there not somebody else the petition can be submitted to?
Interesting Rebecca, The operation of Iownya as a registered tax free charity needs investigation and it’s a national scandal that this has not happened
The CRA said they are “not currently resourced to undertake investigations” they’re working on having the power but don’t currently have it. SIPO said it comes under the remit of the revenue but the revenue said it’s a private matter. I contacted Mr Noonan on multiple occasions and his secretary just keeps palming me off! It’s truely mind boggling
Many thanks for the reply Rebecca. I guessed as much with the CRA. There has to be another way of getting the petition submitted. I too think it is a disgrace that this group (they are NOT an institute by any true definition) are permitted to masquerade as a charity.
I suppose the Iona Institute just wanted us to have offspring.
Are you familiar with Agenda 21?
http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/17/london-museum-deploys-gay-moth-sex-controls.html
Fianna Fail are dealing with a legacy problem where many donations to the party ended up in people’s pockets rather than party funds.
So there still isn’t the trust there that from its voter base that the money will reach the party coffers.
Pointless exercise… As if DOB and others would declare their bribes and payoffs publicly.
Exactly. Now if the elected was to state HONESTLY what they were paid in money for appearing at openings, for speeches, for personal appearances or charging for advice as a “consultant” for an enterprise – the financial numbers would be a whole other ball game.
…And even that would not include also indications of quiet promised favours to be paid back later, for lobbying for someone/some business previously while in elected office.
Siptu shouldn”t be donating any money to Labour.Got into bed with Fine Gael and shunned the people they are supposed to represent. I recently filled in a form that disallows Siptu from making any political donations from my contributions.Turns out it’s only about 65c a year from each member but if every member filled in this form it would let the political parties know what Siptu members think. Labour are going the same way as the Greens went.Didn’t think they’d be a silent Government party.
The workers party element that took over Labour only saw it in terms of their own political lifetimes.
They used up the party and when they leave it will be a dried out husk.
SF €15,020…. What’s that figure made up of?One seat at their NYC fundraising dinner and 20 quid they found on the floor after?
€1,520
I believe the money raised outside the Republic is not repatriated to the Republic so the dinner money remains a lobbying fund in the US.
But I thought SF, AAA, SP all made big deals about only taking the average industrial wage from their pay packet, and donating the rest to spend on their constituency offices, employing their partners/pals etc. Should that not be considered a political donation?
It should but it’s not, every TD should have to publish their P60 or balancing statement at the end of the year to avoid hollow gestures like those of SF.
Not sure about AAA/SP but I know as a member of SF that they do only take the average industry wage and use the rest to fund their constituency offices around Ireland and use leftover money to fund protests and elections..
But they still cost use the same don’t they.
Never ceases to amaze me just quite what you can get people to believe if you lie big enough and just keep repeating it.
Well Drew – you should recognise a big lie when you see it, You tell enough whoppers here yourself
At least you are honest enough to acknowledge that SF are lying.
How is Gerry able to afford a holiday home in Donegal when he is paid the average industrial wage?! Does he have other houses in Louth and in his Northern Ireland constituency?
He got the dole in where he is from for a few years maybe he saved it up.
Think the last time his holiday home was mentioned it was accepted he had earned a lot as an author..but whatever your party politics it must be like a lotto win to win a seat..check the average expenses claimed….would love to see TDs barred from constituency work and real power given to local councils..until its changed we will always have the parish pump
Let them decide to stand for the National parliament or stand for local issues..not both
Gerry like others earns royalties from his book sales etc.
What about the many companies that support FG and the rest. any of those can easy come up with a few names to clever supply many donations just under the financial bar, every day if they wanted to..
how many multiple donations of €1499 are being made and by whom?
1 at most, as it says above parties can only accept a maximum donation of €2,500 per person per annum, be handy to read the whole article
@Léargas: I wonder if we have a problem with straw donors here in Ireland.
I remember last year, conservative blowhard and Obama hater Dinesh D’Souza was convicted of enlisting straw donors, so that he could donate more than was legal.
Basically, if I have already donated my limit, I can donate again through a friend.
Surely a big businessman that supports a party because he might see advantages in it, could funnel contributions through by use of other names? These numbers cannot be trusted.
Just like most news and data released from this gov, its well doctored! Lots of 1499 donations from hidden sources i’d say. Kennys 1600 euros is just for show, its still less than 1 percent of his salary, the greedy fecker. I wonder how much did he donate to actual charities last year, i’d say its a lot less. Most things that kenny does anyway is just for show, there no genuine sentiment to it.
Government didn’t release the data.
That’s a serious chunk of change the proletariat had hidden under their mattress.
can’t pay, won’t pay? ?
Interesting about the disclosed donations.
The undisclosed donations are more interesting and significant!
I didn’t know the made €100 notes, They look very FG
The socialist party ? Wonder what they did with the cash because I haven’t even heard of them .
Wow FG amazing how much money they have donated to them
Does this include all the dinners, breakfasts, luncheons they have
The party of the powerful and wealthy
Siptu shouldn
The last time DDI failed to submit paperwork, their then leader Ben Gilroy got arrested.
It will be interesting to see if the present one will also now get arrested too!
Have they not learned from previous experience? Apparently not.
KNOWN party donations.
This does not include people getting paid to appear at functions, openings, speeches etc.
The above is a known way of looking after individuals off the official Dail books as regards donations.
According to this information. Labour TD’s don’t even make donations from their bloated salaries and pensions to their own party.
These are only the reported donations and as such are meaningless figures.
Do they disclose “political donations for personal use”?
How can people afford to donate to the aaa and water moaning parties yet cant afford a water bill?
How can Fine Gael afford to do up their own building in Dublin to the cost of over one million Euro?
O’ wait… that was paid for by the public by money that came from them without even asking.
Well thats quite ignorant , Irish water protesters aren’t only complaining about the bill costs its the corruption thats the worst if Irish water comes through it will only lead to privatisation and selling off like our gas and oil. Its the fact it won’t harm wealthy people only the poorer Irish families who can hardly put food on the table for themselves and there children forcing them into extreme poverty and the fact the contract was giving to billionaire Denis O Brien. Also we already pay for our water and water services through our general taxation which has been funded it since 1997 so educate yourself before you make such statements. The governments chose to spend the money else where and there now in crisis so why should the lower and middle class citzens pay for there water that they have already paid for and always have paid for. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.
Private Financiers are hedging their bets as usual and pumping money into likely alternative Governments. The right wing will be abolished forever. ENGSOC will be the order of the day.
Enda owes his *massive* salary, perks and pension to Fine Gael
..so he chips in €1,686.
It must have been some small change that he found in his pocket
It was small change, but true to form he found it in somebody else s pocket and took the credit for it.
€1500 is too high a threshold.
Socialists and unions are in the same bed either way, and both should be thrown into the deepest darkest ocean never to be seen again
I thought SF deputies donated any TDs salary over the minimum wage to the party, where is that shown in the above figures?
It would be totally against SIPO rules to do that. Instead they take the full wage, pay tax on that, and then the balance is usually used to pay support staff at constituency level that allow them to run full-time advice clinics etc. it should be noted that the person being paid by the TD also pays full deductions meaning that a lot of the income is liable for double taxation as the expenses cannot be written off. Look at it this way – a TD on €90.k would take home €55.k on average after tax. A TD on AIW gets paid €550 per week after tax (equates to salary of €36,000 per year). This leaves a balance of about €26,400 a year which is used as above though this can differ slightly between TD’s. A person being employed as above by a TD would come out with about €430.00 a week after tax. Hope this explains it a bit?
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