As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe has been before the Dáil giving a statement on his 2016 election expenses, RTÉ's Political Coverage Editor, David Murphy has been taking a look at some of the key issues behind the controversy
In that statement he acknowledged that he made a"clear mistake" and said he sincerely regrets the controversy and the role he played in it.
Under Standards in Public Office Commission rules, donations to individual candidates are limited to €1,000. However, donations to party organisation are limited to €2,500. Paschal Donohoe maintained that he originally believed that the work had been done on a voluntary basis and he did not declare it. But it subsequently emerged the workers were paid.
He was also appointed chairman of the Dublin North Inner City Implementation Board by the Government in 2017. The body aims to improve the lives of those in the area which includes some of the poorer neighbourhoods in the capital. Secondly, it maintains that the services provided seem more like a contribution given to a candidate and not Fine Gael in Dublin Central.
The Labour Party's Ivana Bacik described the fact that Michael Stone's company had picked up the cost of postering without Paschal Donohoe's knowledge as"highly unusual - to say the least". She has asked how can Minister Donohoe be sure this was a donation to the party and not to the candidate?A complaint has been made the Standards in Public Office Commission about the donation. The procedure is that it will consider the complaint.
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