Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has confirmed that he will reappear in front of the Dáil at the “earliest possible opportunity” to make a statement on his 2016 election expenses.
However, he later told the Dáil that he was not available to make the statement on Thursday afternoon, meaning that the controversy will rumble into a new week.
It comes following criticism from the opposition that the Fine Gael TD did not answer all questions put to him on Wednesday evening.
Mr Donohoe confirmed that businessman Michael Stone paid for six men to put up and take down posters in the run-up to the election. This was not declared and it is now the subject of a Standards in Public Office (SIPO) complaint.
Read More: Paschal's poster pal's companies got €8.7m in Government payments over six years
The Minister was back in front of the Dáil on Thursday morning to take parliamentary questions on Public Expenditure and Reform.
Sinn Féin’s Mairead Farrell said that there was “no way we can go into business as usual” as she insisted that questions remained unanswered.
“There's a number of questions because the minister failed to answer questions yesterday and the Dáil that I still want to put to the Minister today.
“Who in 2017 brought to your attention that the company van that was used in 2016 and what action did you take and what value did you calculate that work?
“There is no way that we can go back to business as usual when the minister is refusing to answer questions. The minister now has an opportunity to answer those questions.”
Leas Ceann Comhairle Catherine Connolly told the Dáil that Minister Donohoe was there to answer questions on Public Expenditure.
However, in response, he said that he will make another statement to the Dáil.
The Labour Party’s Ged Nash and Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty both raised points of order to question when this statement would be made.
Minister Donohoe replied: “I do intend to make a further statement to the house.
“I will do so at the earliest possible opportunity, at which point I will refer back to the Ceann Comhairle.”
Deputy Farrell once again quizzed Mr Donohoe on when this statement would take place and what format it would take as she insisted that a questions and answers session was required.
He once again stressed that he would make the statement but did not say when this would take place.
Minister Donohoe said: “I just want to reiterate what I've already said that I do plan to make a further statement.
“I have not yet indicated to the Ceann Comhairle regarding when that will be. But of course, that's his decision to grant it.
“At the earliest opportunity, I want to make a further statement on the matter and ensure that the information that I am sharing is as accurate as possible.
“Regarding the format of that, Deputy Farrell, I have not gotten to the point yet, obviously much of it is the discretion of the Ceann Comhairle as well. But I do just want to indicate again my intention to give further information on the matter.”
It is understood that the possibility of Mr Donohoe making a statement was raised at a meeting of the Dáil Business Committee on Thursday. Members stated that it was their preference for that statement to be made the same day, but it was unclear if that would be facilitated.
The question of the donation from Mr Stone to Mr Donohoe looks set to dominate Dáil proceedings for the rest of Thursday.
The Irish Mirror revealed today that companies which Mr Stone was a director of received €8.7m worth of payments from the Office of Public Works (OPW) over a six-year period.
Minister Donohoe insisted last night he had no role in the awarding of such contracts.
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