The Labour Party is involved in a fresh dispute with Ms Bernie Malone, this time over £20,000 which the party claims it is owed by the former MEP.
The dispute arises from an £80,000 bank loan the party negotiated before the European Parliament elections last June to start its campaign in three of the four constituencies: Dublin, Leinster and Munster. The four Labour candidates in the constituencies signed undertakings to pay the party £20,000 if they won more than 5 per cent of the vote.
While three of the candidates - Mr Proinsias De Rossa, Ms Paula Desmond and Mr Sean Butler - have paid the party £20,000, Ms Malone has not done so, according to reliable sources. The party has written to her at least three times on the subject and senior officials are believed also to have spoken to her by telephone.
Once a candidate won over 5 per cent he or she was entitled to £30,000 from the State under the electoral acts. The undertakings by candidates to pay £20,000 of this to the party helped it to negotiate the loan from the College Green branch of Bank of Ireland, where the party accounts are held.
The undertakings signed by Ms Malone and Mr De Rossa (Dublin), Ms Desmond (Munster) and Mr Butler (Leinster) were drawn up after legal advice, to ensure they were clear enough to satisfy the bank. Separate arrangements were made for the funding of the campaign of Mr Ger Gibbons in Connacht-Ulster, who was not expected to get 5 per cent of the poll and therefore would not get the £30,000 from the State.
Ms Malone, Mr De Rossa, Ms Desmond and Mr Butler all won over 5 per cent and received their £30,000 payments late last year.
Ms Malone could not be contacted for comment. Labour Party headquarters spent £175,649 on its European election campaign last year, of which £96,000 was spent in the Dublin constituency. The party's candidates more than matched this sum in their individual campaigns.