Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Here we are again with another Fine Gael Minister who seems to have problems with filling out statutory forms. First, we have the revelation that Deputy Damien English submitted a planning application which included a barefaced lie. Now we have a Minister for Finance who cannot keep track of his election donations and expenses. I will first remark on this process.

Facilitating Opposition Deputies in making statements but declining to answer their questions in real time is designed for just one thing, namely, to give a veneer of accountability. It is nothing more than that. What is the Minister's reluctance to answer legitimate questions from the Opposition in real time? It was notable that when he opted to hold a press conference at short notice on Sunday afternoon, he responded to questions from the media. Perhaps he just felt it a necessary evil, as the optics of giving a statement and running away without answering questions would have been appalling. The optics today are equally bad. There is nothing procedural stopping the Minster from answering questions from the Opposition as we ask them. It seems he just does not want to do so. People can draw their own conclusions from that.

There are a number of aspects to this controversy that raise serious concerns. For a start, it is extremely difficult to understand why the Minister did not rectify his returns in 2017 when he says he first became aware that a cost applied to the van that was used. It should be remembered that in 2017, the Minister had responsibility for SIPO, so one would have hoped he was completely familiar with our electoral laws at that time. Having ignored the matter for five years, he also tried to stonewall the Irish Independent in November when it questioned him about the matter. The Minister is an experienced politician and he was an experienced politician back in 2016. It seems extraordinary then that he thought private individuals with no connection to Fine Gael were putting up posters for free. How naive can the Minister have been? He tells us he only recently became aware that the team of six people were actually paid for the work they were doing. He seems to have forgotten that the rules that applied to him were the same rules that applied to everybody else and that donations, whether they were monetary donations in services or otherwise, had to be declared.

The Minister seems to have got the deal of the century. The six individuals working in three teams of two were paid a grand total of €1,100 for their efforts over four days. That is approximately €180 each. Is there an invoice or a payslip that can be produced to demonstrate this was the actual amount that was paid or is the Minister relying on Mr. Stone's memory? Of the total cost of €1,100, the Minister further says just €917 was incurred as an election expense as the remainder arose after the election. This appears terribly convenient, given the limit for personal donations is set at €1,000. Of course, the serendipity does not end there. The purported cost of the van was €140, which is also below the €200 limit for a donation from a commercial company. The Electoral Act is clear that the value attributed to services must be equivalent to the commercial rates. The Minister cannot rely on mates' rates for the purpose of his returns. Is he really telling the House that the real commercial cost of employing six people and hiring a van over four days was just €1,240? If that is right, I can only imagine there will be a stampede of Deputies to the Designer Group to request that it put up their posters come the next election.

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