Donohoe to address Dail on election expenses controversy next week

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will make a further Dail statement next week on a controversy over his 2016 election expenses.

The undertaking from Mr Donohoe comes after he made a statement to the Dail on Wednesday evening when he apologised over issues related to non-declarations of expenditure.

When the minister appeared for scheduled questions in the Dail on Thursday morning, Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell repeatedly attempted to raise matters related to the furore, insisting it could not be “business as usual” in the chamber.

The minister told TDs he would make another statement to the Dail at the “earliest opportunity” so the information he was providing was as “accurate as possible”.

“I do plan to make a further statement in relation to issues involving the 2016 general election campaign and matters that were put to me last night,” he said.

It was later confirmed he will make the statement to the Dail on Tuesday and then field questions from TDs.

On Wednesday, Mr Donohoe told the Dail he sincerely regretted the role he played in the expenses controversy.

Over the weekend, it emerged that Mr Donohoe had not declared a payment made by businessman Michael Stone to six people to hang up election posters ahead of the 2016 general election.

He said that six people were paid to hang up posters over “four dates” during the campaign, both before and after polling day, with the work done before polling day valued at 917 euro.

The minister said he was not aware before a full review in December, following a recent complaint to ethics watchdog Sipo (Standards in Public Office Commission), that the workers had been paid in a “personal payment” by Mr Stone.

He also admitted that he should have amended his election expenses in 2017 after he became aware that a corporate van had been used to hang the posters up, which he has estimated to be worth 140 euros.

The Fine Gael TD said neither he or any member of his campaign team “intentionally misinformed Sipo or knew that a form was incorrectly submitted to them at that time”.

Mr Donohoe also told the Dail, Mr Stone made a donation to Fine Gael through the purchase of superdraw tickets which he sold to him.

Mr Stone bought five tickets in 2020, with a donation value of 334 euro, and 22 tickets in 2021, with a donation value of 1,382 euro, the minister told the Dail.

The donation was to the Fine Gael party centrally and within the legal limits, he added.

The minister said those donations were not required to be disclosed but he was doing so to be “fully transparent to the house”.

Mr Donohoe added: “Mr Stone is a man of the very highest standards. He has spent much of his life giving back to the community from which he came and I am obviously also so proud to represent.

“He has done so much for the north-east inner city, and I, Ceann Comhairle,  am so sorry that he has become involved in this matter of public interest.”

During the Dail exchanges on Thursday morning, Mr Donohoe said: “At the earliest opportunity, I want to make a further statement on the matter to ensure that the information that I am sharing is as accurate as possible.”