Paschal Donohoe

But the Dublin Central TD also knew while he was getting a second chance to come before the Dáil to explain his election expenses, if it went badly he may not ...

The Labour Party's Jed Nash has said it is a "fantasy" that the donation was one to Fine Gael in Dublin Central and argues it appears more like a donation to Paschal Donohoe personally. "Let me be clear. However, if Paschal Donohoe has put all of the relevant information into the public domain many TDs will be hoping this will be the end of the matter. He said he was "so disappointed" he was in this position of revising his election declarations and apologised for a second time in the space of a week. Paschal Donohoe described this as a "breach" as it exceeded the maximum allowable donation limit of €200. He told politicians he was giving all the information he was aware of in relation to donations.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has made a further Dáil statement on Tuesday surrounding the controversy over his election expenses.

She says the whole controversy carries the “stench of cronyism and favours for insiders”. Gerard Howlin writes: ”Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe arrives in the Dáil again on Tuesday to explain his election expenses. He says: “I want to be clear on this, this is not our intended or preferred main model of going forward when it comes to increasing the amount of forests in Ireland. In response to Mr Boyd Barrett, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he knows the issue is causing a lot of concern at the moment. The minister says these are important matters and that some in the Opposition will seek to define him by this but that it is not all he has done as a TD for Dublin Central. Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has just concluded addressing the Dáil in relation to his general election expenses. I have always sought to hold myself, and those around me, to the highest of standards,” he says. He gave his time freely in an attempt to make a difference to the lives of those who faced with significant challenges. SIPO have been notified of this breach and €234.20, the amount received in excess of the allowable limit, will be refunded to the Designer Group,” he said. Donohoe says he understood that help to be on a voluntary basis and didn’t ask further questions adding “and I clearly should have”. “I deeply regret any embarrassment that I caused Paschal for my mistaken recollection in relation to 2020 and for what I thought was modest help for a hardworking, honest politician,” he said in the statement issued by his company, the Designer Group. Concluding the q&a session, Minister Donohoe says he has done his best to respond throughout in a truthful and accurate way.

Embattled Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has given a second Dáil statement on his relationship with businessman Michael Stone who, ...

Up to that point, Mr Stone had told the minister twice that he had not provided a 2016-style donation for the last general election. This was in part a defence to accusations from Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall that “ignorance of the law is not a defence”. In his opening remarks, Mr Donohoe accepted responsibility and apologised for the difficulties this story had caused. This evening, Mr Donohoe’s spokesperson told Independent.ie: “The best estimate is that 150 posters were erected in 2016. Later in fiery exchanges, Mr Donohoe said that the men had been responsible for erecting “a small number” of posters. All of this comes after Mr Donohoe’s spokesperson last week told Independent.ie that a review of the 2016 postering operation “found that around 150 were erected by the men”.

Mr Donohoe appeared in front of the Dail to answer questions about his election expenses on Tuesday afternoon.

“The details of the support provided are outlined in the statement from Mr. Minister Donohoe added that an “unauthorised corporate donation of €434.20 was unknowingly received by Fine Gael Dublin Central”. I was unaware of any of these details prior to Wednesday night. This prompted his call to me. This was confirmed to me on more than one occasion. Appearing in front of the Dáil on Tuesday afternoon, the Fine Gael TD said that he “deeply regrets” that this controversy “caused the loss of Michael Stone from the boards of both the Land Development Agency and the North East Inner City Taskforce”.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has sought to shift blame for his election donations controversy amid unresolved questions about the costs ...

Mr Donohoe told the Dáil he did not know how many posters were erected on his behalf but last week Fine Gael TDs were briefed to say it was only 150. In 2020, six men over five nights cost €972, meaning the rate was €32.40 per person per day. The businessman has also not said how much his workers were individually paid. He also personally named Dublin City Councillor Ray McAdam as the person responsible for overseeing his postering operation in the 2020 General Election. In 2016, the total cost of this poster campaign involving six workers over four nights came to €1,100, which means they were paid €45.83 per person per date. In his second Dáil statement on the ongoing election expenses row, Mr Donohoe said he did not know Mr Stone was paying people to put up posters over the course of two general election campaigns.

Minister for Public Expenditure tells Dáil Michael Stone provided postering services during 2020 election.

Róisín Shortall of the Social Democrats said Mr Donohoe had made a “complete hames” of his returns, and argued that ignorance was no excuse. Mr Donohoe also called Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan at the weekend to inform them of what was going to happen, Mr Varadkar said. Sinn Féin said the session had raised more questions than answers and it would decide how to proceed in the coming days. He also said that the “vast majority” of posters erected in both elections had been erected by volunteers. An amendment will also be made this week to my election expenses return to the value of €1,256.20 for the work carried out and use of the vans up to polling day.” Mr Stone said his company Designer Group also supplied vans which had a commercial value of €434.20.

This is a big day for Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe, and the stakes have been raised since last week, writes David Murphy.

On Wednesday, 18th January 2023, I again confirmed to him my mistaken recollection." Paschal Donohoe has maintained the support of the coalition parties and so far, no opposition figures have called for him to resign. The opposition has consistently queried in the Dáil if Michael Stone's support was to the party or to Paschal Donohoe personally as a candidate. The North East Inner City Programme Implementation Board is considered as a body which makes helpful community contributions to an area which has some of the poorer neighbourhoods in the capital. Michael Stone, in his statement, took the blame for Paschal Donohoe not telling the Dáil about the details of the 2020 election. In the Dáil last week, Paschal Donohoe gave full details of the value of the services for 2016 which he said were worth €1,057 during the campaign.

Michael Stone has stepped down from two State boards and says he 'did not know' that his assistance in the form of postering needed to be declared.

"In December 2022, Paschal asked me whether I had provided such help with the 2020 election. "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. "When I heard later that day that the 2020 election had been raised in the Dáil, 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.

Businessman Michael Stone has revealed he paid for Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe's posters to be erected in the 2020 General Election ...

"I can now confirm that in 2020 I paid personally for six people, working in three pairs, to help with postering. 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. "In December 2022, Paschal asked me whether I had provided such help with the 2020 election.