Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

There must be an opportunity to question the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in the Dáil. This goes to the very heart of the functioning of the political system in this country. The reason we have declarations of donations is because we need transparency to see what influence businesses and developers can have on the political system. For decades, this country was hammered by the fact that a golden circle bought influence through donations to Ministers. This created incredible damage that we are still paying for now.

In the case of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, it is reported that the donor in question was nominated to the board of the Land Development Agency shortly after the donation was given, and that the Minister himself named that individual as the chair of the north east inner city initiative. I do not say that individual has gained in any manner, financially, as a result of that, but we need to make sure there is transparency. We need to be able to tease this out. Is it not important that the Taoiseach would facilitate a debate on this issue now?

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