Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The controversy surrounding the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe's undisclosed election donations raises again Fine Gael's relationship with big business and its influence at the heart of Government. The whole saga carries the stench of cronyism and favours for insiders.

The businessman at the centre of the controversy, Michael Stone, issued a statement today in which he revealed he gave a second undeclared donation to the Minister in the 2020 general election. This means the Minister failed not once but twice to disclose a donation in back-to-back elections from the same wealthy supporter. This is a supporter who has secured lucrative State contracts, was appointed to the powerful Land Development Agency by Fine Gael outside of the normal process and was appointed as chair of the north-east inner city programme implementation board. Mr. Stone has now resigned from both bodies. A theme of this controversy is the Minister’s ever-changing story, the muddying of waters and the ducking and diving to evade accountability. It has been an exercise in concealment and cover-up from start to finish.

This morning we have it again. Mr. Stone claimed the Minister asked him twice if he had paid for his postering operation in the 2020 general election and that he told the Minister he had not. Then, in a eureka moment as the Minister was being questioned on the floor of the Dáil, Mr. Stone remembered that he had paid for the postering in 2020. This is the farcical story the Minister asks the Dáil and public to believe but nobody buys it. The reason Mr. Stone had a sudden recollection is he knew they were caught out. The idea that this donation slipped through the net and out of memory does not stack up. The idea the Minister did not know and the businessman forgot does not hold water. Are we seriously supposed to believe neither the Minister, his director or elections nor any member of his campaign team knew anything of who was putting up the election posters? The posters had to be ordered, delivered and their distribution planned. Mr. Stone’s vans were crisscrossing the constituency putting up the posters and taking them down. People had to know Mr. Stone was taking care of the postering, and the Minister had to know also.

Tá sé seo an-dáiríre. Tá rud éigin aisteach faoi scéal an Aire, an Teachta Donohoe. Tá a chreidiúnacht i gcruachás. Caithfidh sé an fhírinne a insint. The Minister’s credibility lies in tatters. He has chosen concealment and cover-up again and again. At every turn, the truth has to be dragged out of him.

He was informed about the nature of the 2016 donation in 2017 and he did nothing. He denied there was anything to see when he was questioned by the media last November. It was only when the Standards In Public Office Commission, SIPO, wrote to him that was he forced to respond. When he was asked about the 2020 election, he denied the involvement of Mr. Stone. Indeed, we would know nothing of the 2020 donation had i not been for questions being put to the Minister in the Dáil last week. The Minister misled the Dáil last week. Now, to continue the cover-up, Michael Stone has fallen on his sword, all to protect the Minister.

Is the Taoiseach also standing by this story? Does he also claim that the Minister did not know and that the businessman simply forgot? As the head of the Government, does the Taoiseach stand by this account of events?

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