Just looking at the Standards in Public Office report and who got what. Very interesting that the person that got the 3rd highest donations was everyone’s fav Catholic, Ronán Mullen. There must have been a lot of closet fans of Ronan so.
So here’s how this donation thing works:
TDs, Senators and MEPs must disclose individual donations of over €634.87.
Foreign or anonymous donations cannot exceed €126.97
Donations from a single person cap out at €2,539.48 pear year.
Photo owned by atbartlett (cc)
The person disclosing the highest donations was Fianna Fáil TD for Wicklow Joe Behan, who received €37,600. Minister of State for Trade and Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness was second with €32,500.
Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, whose donations were the third -highest reported at €32,030, was the only non-Fianna Fáil member in the top ten.
Independent Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry South Jackie Healy-Rae, who received €24,900, was in sixth place, while Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin was in eighth, disclosing donations worth €22,135. Fianna Fáil’s Ãine Brady got a total of €22,000 in ninth place, while FF TD Mattie McGrath received a total of €20,500 and was number 10 on the list.
I’m most surprised at the lack of money raised in an election year by these people. Divide the donations by the number of constituents. Jeez louise. Politicians here have a lot to learn about asking for money from people. Look how much the consumers of Ireland spent on crap last year compared to these tiny amounts of money.
I really do hope this is the last politics post for a while. It’s becoming boring.
Most politicians will take the majority of donations at just under whatever the relevant limit is.
Indeed Keith. Today’s IT: Fianna Fail TDs, Senators and MEPs disclosed donations of over €500,000 during 2007, more than the combined total of all other political parties.
TDs and Senators are obliged to declare only donations valued at €635 and over. Therefore, the donations actually declared amounts to only a fraction of the actual funds raised by candidates last year as they prepared for the general election.
Holy cow, those limits are high.
In the States, you can raise up to $2300.00 (€6.75) from an individual maximum, foreign donations are prohibited and donors over $200 have to be reported on the internet. Anonymous donations are illegal, though donors under $200 only have to be recorded for FEC audits.