Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has said that he sincerely regrets the controversy over his election expenses and the role he played in it.
He was giving a Dáil statement in relation to issues surrounding his declaration in respect of the 2016 General Election campaign.
During his statement, he also gave details of Fine Gael superdraw tickets he sold to businessman Michael Stone in 2020 and 2021.
However, the minister insisted that neither he "nor any of my team intentionally misinformed SIPO (Standards in Public Office Commission) or knew that a form was incorrectly submitted to them".
In his Dáil statement, Minister Donohoe said that during a review "in recent weeks" he was made aware for the first time that "a personal payment" of €1,100 had been made to workers who put up election posters in 2016.
He acknowledged that he made a "clear mistake" in not including the cost in his election expenses, something for which he apologised. The expenses were amended on Sunday and given to SIPO, he said.
"I want to provide as much additional information as I can to the house", Mr Donohoe said. "Mr Stone has made no donations to me personally."
"However, in 2020 and 2021, Mr Stone made a donation to Fine Gael by the purchase of superdraw tickets, which were sold by me," he added.
"The donation was to the Fine Gael party centrally and was within the legal limits. It is not required to be disclosed."
In 2020, it was five tickets with a donation value of €334, and in 2021 it was 22 tickets with a donation value of €1,382.
The minister said that "Mr Stone is a man of the very highest standards".
He said that he "will engage and cooperate fully with any process that [SIPO] undertake[s]".
"To avoid any undue influence on that process, following today's questions I will not be commenting further," he added.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has said that he sincerely regrets the controversy over his election expenses and the role he played in it | More: https://t.co/9POPIrQrit pic.twitter.com/k19FNKXyI8
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 18, 2023
Opposition responds to Donohoe's statement
Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty told the Dáil that Mr Donohoe "had failed to disclose this donation which was required by law".
He said that the minister tried to reverse engineer the value of the donation.
Mr Doherty pointed out that Mr Donohoe was the minister who was responsible for overseeing ethics legislation.
The Sinn Féin TD said the minister told the media that everything was in order when journalists made inquiries about the donation in 2021.
Sinn Féin's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty told the Dáil that Paschal Donohoe "had failed to disclose this donation which was required by law" | More: https://t.co/XoGvezDxNm pic.twitter.com/LWHZoYOcyd
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 18, 2023
Labour's Ged Nash asked Mr Donohoe if "unauthorised expenditure incurred" during his 2016 campaign. "Iif so, will you notify SIPO of this breach of the act?" he asked.
Mr Nash also asked the minister if the "amended declaration should have stated you received a prohibited donation which you have not returned?"
Róisín Shortall, co-leader of the Social Democrats, dismissed the Government response as "nothing more" than giving "a veneer of accountability".
The figures Minister Donohoe has submitted reveal "reverse engineering", she claimed.
She again called on him to answer questions as the opposition asked them, but concluded that he just does not want to do so.
Ms Shortall asked why did the minister not rectify his election returns in 2017, when he was minister for finance, and first became aware that there was a cost incurred for the van used to put up the posters.
She also accused him of trying to stonewall the Irish Independent when it first asked him about this.
Cathal Berry, Regional Independent TD, said that it was important to continue the trend of improving standards in public office, and not return "to the bad old days".
Mattie McGrath, Rural Independent TD, said the "cock and bull story" the minister had told "stretches credulity", and said that the Government response has been "farcical in the extreme".
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy asked the minister "how many other posters did you get and how did you get them up?"
He described Mr Donohoe as an "extremely fortunate man", saying the "fact that both donations together are donations to the Fine Gael branch, again very fortunate".
Minister Donohoe then said that "many detailed questions" were asked in today's session about an election "that took place seven years ago" and which he has done his best to answer in his SIPO submission.
He takes responsibility for the mistake he made, which resulted in part from his "lack of awareness" that the workers in question had been paid.
In response to loud heckling from the right across the Opposition benches, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fhearghaíl repeatedly threatened to suspend the house and called on TDs to "behave", as they also took issue with his decision to allow five minutes for Mr Donohoe's response.
The minister rejected that he is making light of the matter or trying to be evasive.
"I will be answering questions in the house tomorrow," he added.
Earlier, the Dáil approved a proposal from the Ceann Comhairle to allow Minister Donohoe to answer questions from the Opposition at the end of his statement in a single answer, with no back-and-forth exchanges.
Members of the Opposition had strongly demanded that he take questions in a back-and-forth exchange, something which the Taoiseach rejected.
On Sunday, Mr Donohoe said that he updated his election expenses statement to SIPO after reviewing his records.
He has maintained that services provided by six people to his campaign did not meet the threshold required to be declared as a donation.
The services relate to putting up and taking down electoral posters, which he said he believed had been voluntary.
