Undeclared: The questions facing Paschal Donohoe today
If Paschal Donohoe hopes to draw a line under the issue when he takes to his feet today. there are some questions that need to be answered. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will address the Dáil for a second time on his election expenses today, but there remains some distance for the Dublin Central TD to go to put the issue to bed.
Mr Donohoe has been the subject of a complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) about his expenses, particularly whether the work of employees of businessman Michael Stone was declared, as required.
At a hastily-convened press conference last weekend, Mr Donohoe said the work had been paid for at a cost of €917 and that he was adding both that and the use of a commercial vehicle, valued at €140, to his Sipo returns.
However, despite this admission and a Dáil statement on the matter, questions still remain unanswered about the whole affair.
If Mr Donohoe hopes to draw a line under the issue when he takes to his feet at 3.50pm, here are some of the questions that need to be answered.
Constituency colleagues have questioned the value placed on the work carried out by employees of Mr Stone.
This work was given a value of €1,100, with €917 within the election period for putting up and taking down posters.
Fianna Fáil senator Mary Fitzpatrick declared spending of around €5,000 on the erection and taking down of posters, while Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan said the figure seemed “low”.
The opposition, meanwhile, has doubts over this figure, with Pearse Doherty last week saying that Mr Donohoe had “tried to reverse-engineer the value of the political donation to make sure it was below the allowable amount”.
The minister has maintained a 2016 donation was to the Fine Gael organisation in his constituency and not himself and was therefore within donation rules, but if the cost of the labour was over €2,500, it would be illegal.
The opposition will work to tease out how long the six men worked across the four days on which it has been reported they worked and see if Mr Donohoe can account for the sums.
After agreeing to a second Dáil address, it was reported late on Friday that Mr Donohoe had unearthed fresh issues with his 2020 general election expenses.
While initial reports sought to downplay the severity of these new issues, little is known about them as yet.
The fact that Mr Donohoe — seen as the most careful and prudent of ministers — has discovered issues with two election returns will be troubling for some in Government. He will have to explain the latest issues and hope there is nothing in them to cause further questions.
Mr Donohoe declared expenses of €22,916.80 on his original Sipo return, along with €477.03 met from public funds.
Along with €4,307 assigned by Mr Donohoe to Fine Gael and the figure of €1,057 from Mr Stone's donation, this would add up to €28,757.
The spending limit for a three-seat constituency is just over €30,000. Opposition members will want to know if Fine Gael added any money specifically to Mr Donohoe's campaign.
Mr Stone's business is not on the register of corporate donors, which it would have to be to give a donation of over €200.
Since the donation, Mr Stone has been appointed to the Land Development Agency board and as chair of the North East Inner City Taskforce.
His Designer Group business has also picked up over €8m in government contracts.
Mr Stone is not paid for either of his appointments and his business turns over €325m a year annually, according to its website.
The company is involved in major developments across the world, so Mr Stone is qualified for both positions. But Mr Donohoe will have to convince the Dáil that he was not involved in any of the dealings.
The question which has perplexed many TDs across the Dáil is why Mr Donohoe did not react when the issue was first brought to him in 2017 and again last November.
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