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Ethics watchdog ‘statute barred’ from investigating Paschal Donohoe’s 2016 expenses

Standards in Public Office Commission was told it could not follow up on undeclared donations from the 2016 election

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe had to make amendments to his 2016 electoral statements because of work carried out on his behalf by businessman Michael Stone. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe had to make amendments to his 2016 electoral statements because of work carried out on his behalf by businessman Michael Stone. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos.
Ken Foxe
Thu Oct 24 2024 - 15:17

The ethics watchdog was told too much time had passed to pursue action over more than €1,000 worth of undeclared election expenses by Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe.

The Fine Gael TD had to make amendments to his electoral statements because of postering work carried out on his behalf by the businessman Michael Stone. However, it has now emerged that the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) could not follow up on undeclared donations from the 2016 election.

Previously unreleased internal briefings said a prosecution under the Electoral Act could not take place more than five years after an offence was alleged to have happened. An internal briefing said: “As such, several potential offences relating to the 2016 election are statute barred.”

It said, however, that similar undeclared donations from the 2020 general election – again relating to postering work by Mr Stone – could be pursued. The briefing said these could be “prosecuted on indictment” but would have to be brought through the courts and proven “beyond reasonable doubt”.

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A second course of action was detailed where the undeclared donations would be dealt with by way of complaint to Sipo. The briefing document said: “The Commission previously received legal advice that it could carry out a similar information-gathering exercise using implied powers to ensure constitutional procedural fairness.”

It also advised there were “more limited grounds” available where Sipo could decline to investigate a complaint. This included a scenario where the subject matter “is not, in the opinion of the Commission, of sufficient gravity to warrant investigation”.

Mr Donohoe was later informed by Sipo no further action would be taken and that amendment of his election returns was consistent with their approach to compliance.

The briefing documents were only released by Sipo under Freedom of Information laws following an appeal to the Information Commissioner. However, they provide no significant clarity on how the decision was made not to go ahead with an action over the undeclared donations.

The postering work came to light following a complaint by the journalist Liam Deegan. It led to the disclosure by Mr Donohoe that a commercial van was used during his election campaign in 2016. This was provided along with the labour of six individuals and was later said by the minister to have a value of €1,057.

At the time, Mr Donohoe said: “I always hold myself to the very highest of professional standards and I profoundly regret that this matter wasn’t dealt with correctly in 2016. In light of the information that’s now available to me, I’ve taken the steps to address the issue as comprehensively as I can.”

It also emerged that further undeclared work was carried out on behalf of Mr Donohoe during the 2020 general election. A Sipo briefing said: “In a statement by [businessman] Michael Stone on January 24th, 2023, he claims that he previously incorrectly informed the Minister that he had not provided any assistance regarding the 2020 general election. However, having re-examined the matter he realised this was incorrect.”

A statement from Mr Donohoe and the Department of Public Expenditure said they had nothing further to add and that Sipo was “independent in the performance of its functions”.