Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton has written to the Ceann Comhairle asking for Sinn Féin to answer questions about the party’s finances in the Dáil.
In a letter, seen by the Irish Mirror, the Fine Gael TD said that in the "spirit of transparency and accountability", the party should take questions about "alleged financial irregularities".
The Irish Times previously reported that the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) are investigating alleged discrepancies in the party’s accounts amounting to "hundreds of thousands of euro".
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They claimed that there is a discrepancy between Sinn Féin’s yearly audited accounts and what they suggested they spent on the election.
In a letter sent to Ceann Comharile Seán Ó Fearghaíl on Wednesday, seen by the Irish Mirror, Ms Naughton said that the Government would forfeit some of their allocated time to allow party leader Mary Lou McDonald and the party to answer questions about their finances.
“I write to you today in light of continued revelations regarding Sinn Fein finances and associated alleged financial irregularities which, in some cases amounts to hundreds of thousands of euro,” she said.
“It is my understanding that these reported irregularities have been identified from thorough scrutiny of accounts filed by Sinn Fein to the Standards in Public Office Commission over several years.
“In the spirit of transparency and accountability, I am respectfully requesting that consideration is given to allowing time for Sinn Fein to make statements to Dáil Eireann in the coming period.
“To that end, I would be happy to provide Government time so as not to interfere with other opposition Private Members' time.”
Ms Naughton called for the issue to be discussed at the Business Committee when it meets on Thursday to discuss next week’s business.
When asked in the Dáil last week if a debate could be scheduled on Sinn Féin’s finances, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he would support this being facilitated.
"We are talking about large sums of money - hundreds of thousands of euros. We have had tribunals for less.
"This could become a major political issue. It would be appropriate for some time to be set aside for statements on the matter to allow the party president [Ms McDonald] and party treasurer [Pearse Doherty] who are Members of this House, to account for what has been going on and for there to be responses."
A spokesperson for Sinn Féin told the Mirror: "Not for the first time, the Taoiseach has his facts completely wrong.
"There is no need for a Dáil debate to confirm that all of our money is accounted for and that there is no SIPO investigation into Sinn Féin's finances. There is a letter of complaint from a Fine Gael activist followed by theatrics from Leo Varadkar on the floor of the Dáil.
"All of this is a lame attempted distraction from Fine Gael's failures in government."
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