Politics

Sinn Féin receives further €930,000 from estate of English supporter

Figure brings to more than €3 million total left to the party by Billy Hampton

Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald previously paid tribute to Billy Hampton, describing him as as a ‘rebel with a cause’. File photograph: Getty

Thu Jun 3 2021 - 19:25

Sinn Féin has received a further €930,000 from the will of an English man who died in Wales in 2018. The party has now accepted more than €3 million from the estate of Billy Hampton.

The former mechanic, who was not married and had no children, left some money to friends and acquaintances, but the main beneficiary of the will was the Sinn Féin.

The money came in instalments of about €1.75 million announced in September 2019, followed by 580,000 later that year. It is the largest donation given to a political party in Northern Ireland.

In 2019, Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald paid tribute to Mr Hampton as a “rebel with a cause”. His ashes were buried in west Belfast.

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In the most recent round of figures on political party donations published by the Electoral Commission, the latest €930,000 in cash is recorded as having been accepted by Sinn Féin on February 10th.

The figure represents almost 80 per cent of the total sum received in dontions by all of the political parties in the North during the the first quarter of 2021. - PA

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