A Dublin academic has raised concerns about Sinn Féin's compliance with financial disclosure rules after the party omitted its US fundraising body from annual accounts.

Iain McMenamin, professor of comparative politics at Dublin City University, said the absence of Friends of Sinn Féin USA (FOSFUSA) from the 2024 accounts was difficult to explain, given that the New York-based organisation identifies Sinn Féin as its foreign principal in US filings.

FOSFUSA raised €99,646 in the six months to April and donated €41,412 to Sinn Féin in Belfast, according to its Department of Justice disclosures. It also funded US trips by party leader Mary Lou McDonald and three TDs.

Under a 2010 agreement with the UK Electoral Commission, FOSFUSA can send money to Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland as long as each donation is below £500, bypassing the UK ban on foreign political donations. Similar bodies in Canada and Australia operate under similar arrangements.

New legislation in the Republic, the Electoral Reform Act, now requires political parties to include details of all subsidiaries in accounts filed with the Standards in Public Office Commission. Sinn Féin's 2024 consolidated accounts did not include FOSFUSA as a subsidiary.

Sinn Féin said it was fully compliant and that the accounts were prepared according to the new rules, arguing FOSFUSA does not qualify as a subsidiary. Mark Guilfoyle, president of FOSFUSA, said the corporation is run by a US-resident board with no members of Sinn Féin.

Electoral Commission records show Sinn Féin in Belfast also received funds from the party's Republic-based operations. Republican Merchandising Ltd in Dublin sent £207,182 between July 2023 and December 2025. Other transfers included £24,089 from Parnell Publications Ltd and a bequest of £37,047 from Kilkenny donor Michael Dollard.

McMenamin's research, published in Irish Political Studies, found that Sinn Féin's southern branch is wealthier per vote due to higher state funding and is more likely to transfer money north than vice versa.