Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has revealed that businessman Michael Stone made donations of over €1,700 to Fine Gael in 2020 and 2021.
He confirmed the additional payments in the Dáil on Wednesday evening as he made a statement on the complaint lodged against him with the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).
Mr Donohoe confirmed that Mr Stone, who runs the Design Group, paid six individuals to put up and take down posters during the 2016 General Election. A company van was also used. The total value of the undeclared expenses was €140 for the use of the van and €917 for the labour. Mr Donohoe filed an amended expenses return for €1,057 with SIPO.
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Minister Donohoe revealed in the Dáil on Wednesday that Mr Stone had made two further donations to Fine Gael, but that he had not received any personal donation.
Mr Stone bought “Superdraw” tickets from Mr Donohoe in 2021 and 2022 worth €1,716. The Fine Gael Superdraw is an annual fundraising raffle run by the party.
“The donation was to the Fine Gael party centrally and was within the legal limits,” Minister Donohoe said.
“It is not required to be disclosed however, as stated, I want to be fully transparent to the House. In 2020, it was five tickets with a donation value of €334 and in 2021 it was 22 tickets with a donation value of €1,382.”
Mr Donohoe apologised to Mr Stone in the Dáil, saying that he is a “man of the very highest standards and has spent much of his life giving back to the community from which he came”.
He added: “I accept responsibility for making all supporters, the vast majority of whom are volunteers, aware of their obligations at election time.”
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty accused the Minister of being “caught covering up allegations”.
“You have concocted a story that doesn’t stack up,” he said.
Labour’s Ged Nash said that Minister Donohoe was “selling us a narrative that suits your own ends”.
He also suggested that the cost of putting up and down a poster in the 2016 election was €5.
“If 1,000 posters were involved, then the commercial value is closer to €5,000,” Mr Nash said.
During his closing statement, Mr Donohoe said he would not be commenting on the issue any further following his Dáil comments and that he was “sorry this has happened”.
The debate ended in shouting across the Dáil as Deputy Doherty accused him of not answering questions.
Earlier on Wednesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar questioned Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald on a €1,000 donation received from former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall and whether this had been declared to SIPO.
He said: “On her declaration lodged in 2021, she claimed it was a personal donation to her. It has since been claimed by Deputy Louise O'Reilly, Deputy McDonald and others that it was a donation to Sinn Féin. Does the Deputy not now need to correct that declaration? Was the donation to Deputy McDonald, which she took and spent, or was it to her party?”
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: "This donation was properly recorded over ten years ago. Sinn Féin's SIPO returns are all in order, unlike Fine Gael's.
"Fine Gael are desperately trying to distract from the failure of Minister Paschal Donohoe to answer questions about a political donation to him; the explanation which - thus far - stretches all bounds of credibility.”
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