SF got $760,00 from US supporters in 2004

Sinn Féin collected nearly $760,000 from US supporters in the 12 months up to November, 2004, new figures show.

Sinn Féin collected nearly $760,000 from US supporters in the 12 months up to November, 2004, new figures show.

The party collected $161,556 in the six months up to November 1st, 2004, which adds to the $597,490 US supporters donated in the previous six months.

The largest donation in the six months up to November was $20,000, given by New York construction company, Eurotech, co-owned by Tyrone man Fay Devlin. The company, which has close ties to Northern Ireland, has been one of Sinn Féin's key donors in the US.

The party also received $5,000 from New York construction giant, Structuretone, and another $5,000 from its Tyrone-born owner, Pat Donaghy.

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Mr Donaghy has already donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Friends of Sinn Féin and the US republican support group, Noraid.

They also received $5,400 from an Oakland construction company named 8th and Castro LLC. 8th and Castro is the address of Gerry Adams Way, where Northern Ireland developer Ciarán Scally built an 18-unit residential building and had the street address named in honour of the Sinn Féin president.

Other donations included $5,000 from a charitable foundation set up by Sligo-born construction leader John T White, and his Longford-born wife, Eileen, both living in Palisades, New York.

The $161,000 collected by Sinn Féin up to November is close to the $165,000 collected in the six months up to November 2003, and a large increase on the $92,000 collected in the same period in 2002, when the US economy was still reeling from the effects of the 9/11 attacks.

The sums are included in accounts given to the US Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires all foreign political parties to supply fundraising figures to the US government.