Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to state, as a matter of fact, that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is not yet under investigation by the standards commission. A complaint has been received. That body will consider the complaint. It will then decide whether there should be a preliminary inquiry and, on foot of that, it will decide whether there should be an investigation. It is important that people do not claim that the Minister is under investigation when that is factually not the case. That may change but it is not the case today.

On the cost of renting of van, renting a van is an easy thing to do. When I first heard about this at the weekend, I looked up what it costs to rent a van. Anyone can see what it costs to rent a van for the course of a day, or a few hours, as the case may be. It is well under €200.

People run their election campaigns in different ways. I do not know how the Deputy runs hers but, at least during the past couple of general elections, I have always run mine through the Fine Gael Dublin West party account and not through a personal account. I appreciate other people do things differently, especially if there are two candidates from the same party in a constituency, where it might be done through a different mechanism. However, I have done it through a constituency account. I imagine that is what the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has done as well.

It is important to say that this donation was one that the Minister did not receive in person, nor did he give the donation in person. It was a third party that paid people to put up some posters for the Minister. It was a third party that gave a donation and gave money to a fourth, fifth and sixth party. The Minister was not aware of it. I imagine plenty of people in this House are wondering whether it is possible somebody could have done something similar in their circumstances. Maybe that is not the case but say, for example-----

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