At least 60 Dáil candidates had crowdfunded more than €150,000 by the time the starter’s gun was fired on the general election race last Friday.
At least 60 Dáil candidates had crowdfunded more than €150,000 by the time the starter’s gun was fired on the general election race last Friday.
The candidates who took to the GoFundMe website to help pay for their campaigns included sitting and aspiring politicians of all hues, bar Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
The politicians using the tech included three outgoing Green Party government ministers — Roderic O’Gorman, Malcolm Noonan and Joe O’Brien.
According to today's Sunday Independent, the top beneficiary was the independent candidate and outgoing TD Cathal Berry — who by Friday afternoon had raised €24,225 of a €30,000 target. More than 196 donors contributed to his campaign for re-election in the Kildare South constituency.
The next most successful applicant was Kate O’Connell, the former Fine Gael TD who is running as independent candidate in Dublin Bay South.
Her donations included one for €2,400 and another for €1,200 — both listed as “anonymous”.
Online donations are often posted as “anonymous” for public view, but donors must make their identities known to candidates.
Candidates are allowed to accept no more than €100 anonymously and sums that exceed the limit must be remitted to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) within two weeks.
Donations of more than €600 must be declared, and cannot exceed €1,000.
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