Donohoe hits out at Grealish for Nigeria remarks

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has written to Noel Grealish denouncing Dáil comments in which he singled out money being sent home by Nigerians living.

The Independent TD was accused of "disgraceful racism" after he suggested in the Dáil that money being sent home by migrants could be the proceeds of crime or fraud.

Writing to Mr Grealish about his Dáil remarks, Mr Donohoe said it was wrong to single out one country without providing any evidence of wrong-doing.

"I am disappointed with the apparent ethnic basis of your statements and would welcome any steps that you would be willing to take to clarify on this aspect.

"It is inappropriate to single out one country in the absence of evidence of wrong-doing."

Raising the topic of remittances, Mr Grealish used World Bank Figures which estimate that €10bn has left the country by way of personal transfers to various countries in the past eight years alone, €3.4bn of which Mr Grealish said was sent to Nigeria.

However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar dismissed these figures in the Dáil as inaccurate and said the CSO puts the amount being sent to Nigeria at just €17m annually.

Mr Donohoe wrote: "At the outset I note that you appear to cite data from the World Bank which are estimates and may overstate the cash-flow from Ireland to Nigeria."

The Mininster referenced CSO figures provided to the Galway TD by the Taoiseach in October, which Mr Grealish did not refer to in the Dáil, and said "there are procedures in place to allow you to challenge these figures if you consider that they were misleading".

Mr Donohoe also told the deputy in his letter that he is "satisfied" that the appropriate framework is in place to ensure money leaving the country comes from legitimate sources and the correct level of tax is paid on it.