The jubilation of creditors at the election defeat in May of wealthy Fianna Fail TD John Ellis ended abruptly when they learned that he qualifies for tax-free lump sum payments exceeding 270,000 under the Oireachtas employment termination scheme. In addition, he will receive an annual pension of 50,000.

Among the 80 farmers left unpaid in the north west when Stanlow Trading collapsed after two years in business were Johnny and Mary Nally from near Tulsk in Co Roscommon. The parents of 11 children, they never saw a penny of the �14,600 ( 18,500) they were owed when Stanlow ceased trading in 1987. Their son, David Nally, believes it broke their hearts.

"Imagine being owed that much money and 11 kids in the house, " he said. "I was seven and I remember the banks coming out to our house and my father sick above in the bed. When my father died in 1989, my mother went to Ellis and asked him for the money to pay for the funeral but he wouldn't give it to her. She went to him three times. I was with her one of the times and we got a blunt reception. She was very upset about it right up to when she died two years ago.

"It affected all of us in our family, " said Nally, whose mother and father both died of cancer aged 59. "None of us went to college. Only four of the 11 of us went to school. My mother never had a holiday in her life. There was always stress in our house. To see Ellis' poster up in our village asking people to vote for him was rightly rubbing our noses in it."

Stanlow Trading was owned by John Ellis, a former senator and a TD for more than 20 years, his brothers, Caillian, a Fianna Fail councillor in Ballinamore, and Richard, a financial advisor now living in the Isle of Man. As president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Tom Parlon negotiated a deal with John and Caillian Ellis whereby they would pay the creditors 30p for every pound owed. Many farmers refused to accept it.

It emerged at the Moriarty tribunal that Charlie Haughey gave John Ellis �26,000 from the Fianna Fail leaders' allowance account to pay off two creditor marts. National Irish Bank, having initiated bankruptcy proceedings to retrieve �263,000 due, settled for �20,000 final payment.

John Ellis, 55, has become a very wealthy man. He owns three properties in Co Leitrim, 153 acres of farmland and five development sites. When his previous electoral constituency of SligoLeitrim was re-drawn as RoscommonSouth Leitrim for May's poll, local disgruntled farmers campaigned against him. Under the umbrella of the Farmers' Positive Action Group, they issued fliers urging people not to vote for him.

Ellis lost the seat he held continuously since 1987 and Leitrim is now without a TD.