Businessman Michael Stone has confirmed that he paid for people to hang posters of Paschal Donohoe during the 2020 General Election.
This was not declared by the Public Expenditure Minister during his election returns. Mr Stone has also confirmed that he has stepped down from the board of the Land Development Agency (LDA) and Dublin's North East Inner City Programme Implementation Board.
The Fine Gael Minister will face questions in the Dáil this afternoon about his relationship with Mr Stone and election expenses. This was believed to be primarily related to 2016, when €1,057 in expenses was not declared.
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It was suggested last weekend that Mr Donohoe had found discrepancies with his 2020 expenses but there was no further information provided. Mr Stone has now confirmed in a statement that he paid for people to hang these posters.
The total cost of the labour and vans that were undeclared for 2020 was €1,406.20. It brings Mr Donohoe’s total undeclared election expenses to €2,452.20.
“In the context of the 2016 General Election, as Paschal has already stated, I provided support with postering on a few occasions in Dublin Central,” he explained. “At the time, I didn’t know that these payments needed to be accounted for in his electoral expenses.
"I understand and fully accept that his team believed the support I provided to be voluntary. In December 2022, Paschal asked me whether I had provided such help with the 2020 election.
"I mistakenly believed that I had not and told him so. On Wednesday, 18th January 2023, I again confirmed to him my mistaken recollection. When I heard later that day that the 2020 election had been raised in the Dail, I had the matter re-checked and discovered that my recollection was wrong and that, in fact, similar assistance had been given with postering in the 2020 election.
"I immediately contacted Paschal and told him so and apologised for my mistake. The help given in 2020 was arranged through a member of the Fine Gael team in Dublin Central and I had not discussed it with Paschal at that time.
“I can now confirm that in 2020 I paid personally for six people, working in three pairs, to help with postering. This assistance was provided on five dates across the campaign period, two before and after polling day, at a cost of €972.
"I also arranged to supply some of these individuals with vans for the period they worked which I now know had a commercial value of €434.20. I deeply regret any embarrassment that I have caused Paschal for my mistaken recollection in relation to 2020 and for what I thought was modest help for a hardworking honest politician.”
Mr Stone’s statement said that his roles as Chairperson of the North East Inner City Programme Implementation Board and board member of the Land Development Agency “have been raised in commentary”. He said that he does not wish for this “unrelated controversy to be a distraction in any way from their work”.
“For that reason, I have very regretfully decided to step down from both bodies on which I have served pro bono and without fees or expenses for a number of years,” he added. Mr Stone said that he has known Mr Donohoe “for a number of years and have always held him in high regard for his work done both as a minister and as an elected representative”.
The Minister will face questioning in the Dáil from after 4pm today. When asked for a comment on Mr Stone’s statement, a spokeswoman for Minister Donohoe told the Irish Mirror that he will make his statement in the Dáil this afternoon.
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