Results 2,861-2,880 of 32,547 for speaker:Paschal Donohoe
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: Just to conclude-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----not only are we talking about funding that went to two different entities, which are Fine Gael Dublin Central and Fine Gael nationally, we are also talking about them being paid from two different people.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: Two different entities.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy cannot make repeat assertions and assume they have or may have a truth here. As I said a moment ago, of the three different figures the Deputy has referred to, the figure of €430 is for the commercial use of a van-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----which was a corporate donation from the Dublin Designer Group, a portion of which will be refunded. The other two figures referred to by the Deputy are personal figures. Those personal figures are under the donation threshold-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: It is important to be clear about that point, because an impression is being created that the figures being brought forward are in some way-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy. I agree that ethics and standards do matter. It is why I am so disappointed to be in this position, having to explain who put up my posters, having to explain I assumed it happened on a voluntary basis, and having to take up the time of the House making a justification for it, let alone having to revise my expenses statements with SIPO. Regarding the point the Deputy...
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I thank Deputy Nash. I appreciate his recognition of the value I place on integrity and standards. I am so aware of the issues I have created due to postering activity that happened on my behalf at election time. That is the issue. It concerns who put up my posters, assuming it happened on a voluntary basis. On the point the Deputy put to me, I thank him again for recognising this was...
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----and my amended expenses I will make available.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy very much for her questions. I want to pick up on the points she made that ignorance of the law is no defence. Of course, SIPO will impartially evaluate what has happened and the consequences of it. Not knowing is not a defence but proportionality in political debate is also a point I would make.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: The Deputy referred to political experience. I am aware she has very extensive political experience from her many successful election campaigns in the constituency beside mine, but I have some political experience too. I have political experience of being a candidate, particularly in the 2020 campaign, during which I was performing a national duty because of my party.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I was rarely in my constituency office.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: The reality is-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I will conclude briefly but I am going to answer. If you are in an environment in which the vast majority, if not all, your activities happen on a voluntary basis-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----the assumption I made was that a small share of it was too.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I just want to make a final point on it, again to emphasise that my campaign or I was not paying for this-----
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----and the mistake that I acknowledge I made was not checking if somebody else was.
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for his questions. It is important to be clear, when he uses the word "donation", that what exactly we are referring to here is an inadvertent corporate donation that I have now declared and will return to SIPO. The donation he referred to repeatedly that is at the heart of this is the issue of postering and the donation to which he refers is the commercial value that is...
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: -----I will make the point that this refers to postering that I assumed was done on a voluntary basis. He asked me who made the allegation; who passed on the point in 2017. It was a journalist at that point. I have been unable to determine who that is. As regards the review I initiated from the end of November across December, which took time to do, at that time I believed, but it took me...
- Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (24 Jan 2023)
Paschal Donohoe: I thank the Deputy for recognising that the donation to which we are referring here is the putting up of posters. It is postering that I assumed was happening on a voluntary basis-----