I call Deputy McDonald. Tá fáilte romhat ar ais.

Go raibh míle maith agat. Happy new year to one and all.

Today, the Taoiseach takes his first Leaders’ Questions and his Cabinet is mired in scandal. The two Deputies at the centre of these scandals - the former Minister of State, Deputy English, and the current Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe - reportedly received a round of applause for their efforts at last night’s meeting of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. Last week, Deputy English was forced to resign as Minister of State because he lied on a housing planning application. Tens of thousands of people were not able to build a one-off home because, unlike Deputy English, they were honest in filling out their forms. However, he believed those rules did not apply to him.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is embroiled in controversy for flouting election donation rules. There has been a concerted attempt by the Minister to trivialise the matter as an administrative error but you and I know it is far more serious than that. The truth is that in the 2016 general election, the Minister received a political donation from a businessman which he failed to declare, and which was above the amount allowable by law. The businessman who provided the donation of a postering service, Michael Stone, at that time headed the Construction Industry Federation, the organisation that represents developers. Mr. Stone was subsequently appointed by Fine Gael to the Land Development Agency outside of the normal process. This demonstrates again how politics work in Ireland. There is a cosy club culture that sees Fine Gael Ministers slip seamlessly out of government and into roles as financial lobbyists, allows vulture funds to run amok, and sees housing policy written for big developers and corporate landlords. Despite his best efforts, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, cannot escape the fact that he broke the rules by receiving this donation. That is why he failed to correct his election return when the matter was brought to his attention as long ago as 2017. It is why he tried to convince members of the media that there was nothing to see here when he was questioned in November. It is why it took the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, writing to the Minister last Friday for him to respond.

Since then, the Minister has concocted a story that has changed so many times that its credibility lies in tatters. The Minister first claimed that the posters were erected at night but images published by the Irish Independent show workers - I can only assume employees of Mr. Stone’s - in their hard hats, using the company van to put up the Minister's posters in broad daylight, in the middle of their working day. Yet, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, wants everyone to believe that this was not an unlawful political donation to him from a construction company. Nobody believes that story because it is not true.

Bhris an tAire, an Teachta Donohoe, na rialacha nuair a fuair sé an síntiús seo. Tá a scéal dochreidte. Caithfidh sé an fhírinne a insint. This smacks of cronyism and of favours for insiders. It is time for the Minister to come clean.

My questions are straightforward. What involvement has Mr. Stone had in any other Fine Gael election campaigns or in any other campaigns for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe? Can the Taoiseach explain why Mr. Stone was appointed by Fine Gael to the Land Development Agency outside of the normal processes? When did the Taoiseach first learn of this donation? Was it brought to his attention in November when the media first started asking questions? Does the Taoiseach accept that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, broke the rules when he received this donation?

I call the Taoiseach. Fáilte ar ais.

Fáilte ar ais, Teachtaí, and a happy new year to everyone.

Deputy McDonald, I believe Paschal Donohoe. I believe he is a man of integrity and a man of the highest standards. He is somebody I have known for a very long time and I believe he is somebody we can trust, and somebody who I believe. I think, deep down, everyone in this House knows that Paschal is a man of integrity and somebody who tells the truth.

What happened here is that six years ago, a businessman who is a supporter of his paid six people less than €200 each to put up and take down posters. There was also the issue of a loan of a company van, and the amount, the value of that, was below the limit above which you must declare it as a donation. He did not know the full facts. He only knew the full facts himself recently. When he did know the full facts, he amended his return, as he explained on Sunday. He accepts that he should have done this much sooner. He does concede a mistake in that regard and has apologised for it.

We have a system of accountability when it comes to the Electoral Act and the ethics Act here in Ireland and it is now up to the standards commission to examine this complaint. It is not for us to make definitive judgments. We have the standards commission to do that and it will look at it impartially and make a decision. Ultimately, this is a political chamber, a political place, and we all know how votes will fall if there is a vote. That is why we have an independent commission, a standards commission, to take it out of the political cut and thrust. That body will look at the information independently and it will decide whether to carry out a preliminary inquiry. It has not even decided that yet. If it decides to carry out a preliminary inquiry, that will happen; and only at that point will it decide whether it is appropriate to have a full investigation at all. I think it is important that we respect the ethics legislation we voted through in this House and that we allow the standards commission to do its work free from political interference, whether it is from Government or from Opposition.

I think it is wrong to cast aspersions on Michael Stone. I do not know Michael Stone. I have met him. He is the chairman of the north-east inner city task force. Deputy McDonald knows the work that he has done in her constituency to help to improve the lives of people in the north-east inner city. She knows he does that without claiming any expenses or any salary or financial reward. She also knows that he served on the board of the Land Development Agency and did not take any expenses and did not claim the allowance that could have been given to him because he is genuinely somebody who wants to make the country a better place, believes in his community and wants to contribute. That, and for no other reason, is why he is a supporter of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe.

The Deputy asked a question specifically of me. I only heard about this in the last couple of days. I could not tell her for sure whether it was Friday or Saturday but it was only in the last couple of days. I had no prior knowledge of it before that point.

On the other questions she asks, I think she would have to ask them of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, later today. He is willing to answer questions.

I am not casting aspersions on anyone. I am simply asking the logical, reasonable questions that arise from the recent turn of events.

The story as told by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, lacks any credibility whatsoever. The facts, as they have been established so far, are that this businessman, Mr. Stone, made a donation to the election campaign of Paschal Donohoe. The fact is that this donation was not declared. It is also a fact that it was only years later, when confronted with the letter from SIPO, that the Minister moved to clarify any matter.

I have asked the Taoiseach, as Head of Government and the leader of Fine Gael, what I think are reasonable questions. Has he asked the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, whether Mr. Stone had any involvement in any of his other election campaigns, including the 2020 election campaign? Did he assist with postering services then?

The time is up.

What is the Taoiseach's view of a Minister that flouts rules and laws like these?

My view is that we should allow the standards commission to decide whether an investigation is appropriate, and to make a determination as to whether the rules were broken. This is a political chamber. We all know how this plays out if we allow it to become a party political matter. It should not be. We have ethics legislation and standards legislation. It is set up to be independent of this place. In my view, that body should be allowed to do its work, and we should not be so quick to rush to conclusions in that regard.

I do not know all the details of Mr. Stone's support for Paschal Donohoe down the years. I think I recall him saying to me that he did not help with the postering in 2020, but I do not know that for sure. However, he is a supporter, and I am sure any donations that have been made since then were declared if they were above the limit.

There is a not dissimilar situation here in relation to a €1,000 donation that Deputy McDonald accepted from Jon Dowdall, her friend, somebody who would have been one of her cronies-----

Which was declared.

On her declaration lodged in 2021, she claimed it was a personal donation to her. It has since been claimed by Deputy O'Reilly, Deputy McDonald and others that it was a donation to Sinn Féin. Does the Deputy not now need to correct that declaration? Was the donation to Deputy McDonald, which she took and spent, or was it to her party? There is a difference.

I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up.

I do not know if there is a SIPO complaint in about this, but somebody might consider doing that because she has questions to answer in that regard too.

I call Deputy Bacik. Fáilte romhat ar ais.

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I wish a happy new year to all.

What has emerged in the past week about the conduct of not one, but two Fine Gael Ministers is deeply concerning. It raises fundamental questions about standards in public life, standards in public office, trust in politics, the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy. A Minister of State has already resigned without answering any questions and, further, the Minister responsible for ethics reform is now under investigation for undisclosed election donations. It is welcome that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make a statement this afternoon in the Dáil and take questions, but it is regrettable that it appears there will be no facility for responses to our questions.

The revelations are all the more concerning when a fringe minority is seeking to sow distrust and attack elected representatives to further a vicious far-right agenda. We all know the power of politics to transform the lives of people but, unfortunately, we know politics can have a dark side too. For many years, our political system was plagued with corruption and grubby deals. For decades, we in the Labour Party fought to stamp out corruption. We called out corruption in the planning system when it took place years ago. We sought to pass ethics laws. We ensured the passage of the right to freedom of information, protection for whistleblowers and a register for lobbyists. We ensured there would be limits on donations and on the power to purchase influence. However, on the necessary further ethics reform, unfortunately since 2016 this and the previous Government have sat on their hands. Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed to move further with the necessary reforms.

Deputy Brendan Howlin's Public Sector Standards Bill 2015, which would overhaul SIPO and give it the necessary extra powers it has long sought, was last debated in this Chamber exactly seven years ago, on 20 January 2016. It was then stalled and shelved by the Government in July 2020.

When will the Taoiseach commit to introducing that Bill? Who will be responsible for taking it through the House? Will it be the Taoiseach? A Minister of State resigned last week when it was revealed that false information was submitted on a planning application. That cannot be the end of it. As leader of Fine Gael, can the Taoiseach say that this is behaviour his party tolerates? Does he think it is tenable for a Deputy to remain in his party having given false information on a planning application that he benefited from?

What we know about the donation in 2016 to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is still limited. We still need to know more. It appears that a company and its owner picked up the costs of his election postering without his knowledge, which is a highly unusual arrangement to say the least. How can the Minister be clear that this was a donation to the party and not to the candidate to help his re-election? How can we trust what has been disclosed to date, in particular the commercial value Fine Gael has put on the donation? Where is the evidence the Taoiseach has to back up the revised disclosure? Can he tell us how the commercial value was determined? Is it common practice in Fine Gael for businesspeople to pick up postering costs for individual candidates?

It is important to state, as a matter of fact, that the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is not yet under investigation by the standards commission. A complaint has been received. That body will consider the complaint. It will then decide whether there should be a preliminary inquiry and, on foot of that, it will decide whether there should be an investigation. It is important that people do not claim that the Minister is under investigation when that is factually not the case. That may change but it is not the case today.

On the cost of renting of van, renting a van is an easy thing to do. When I first heard about this at the weekend, I looked up what it costs to rent a van. Anyone can see what it costs to rent a van for the course of a day, or a few hours, as the case may be. It is well under €200.

People run their election campaigns in different ways. I do not know how the Deputy runs hers but, at least during the past couple of general elections, I have always run mine through the Fine Gael Dublin West party account and not through a personal account. I appreciate other people do things differently, especially if there are two candidates from the same party in a constituency, where it might be done through a different mechanism. However, I have done it through a constituency account. I imagine that is what the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has done as well.

It is important to say that this donation was one that the Minister did not receive in person, nor did he give the donation in person. It was a third party that paid people to put up some posters for the Minister. It was a third party that gave a donation and gave money to a fourth, fifth and sixth party. The Minister was not aware of it. I imagine plenty of people in this House are wondering whether it is possible somebody could have done something similar in their circumstances. Maybe that is not the case but say, for example-----

It is not the case.

I will give a small example. During election campaigns, we have all seen taxi drivers bringing people to polling stations. As a taxi is a commercial vehicle, was that declared? There are many things that need to be figured out in this instance. That needs to be taken into regard. If somebody from another jurisdiction helped out for a day or two, and was given a few bob by a third or fourth party to help to cover his or her petrol or diesel expenses, that is something that should have been accounted for as well. We need to bear-----

That is not true.

Yes, it is.

That is not true.

We need to bear-----

The value of this is €5,000-----

-----all of that in mind.

-----to put up posters and take them down.

The Taoiseach should answer the question about Deputy English.

On the lobbying Act and the legislation that was brought in, I acknowledge the Labour Party's contribution to making reforms in this area. During all of that period, it was in government with my party. We brought in the lobbying Act, an effective ban on corporate donations, a freedom of information Act, and whistleblowers' legislation which is now being strengthened by this Government. This new Government will also strengthen the ethics Act as well.

With respect, the Taoiseach has not answered any of my questions. Indeed, his response has shed no clarity and perhaps obscured things further. The crucial point is that we cannot see any return to the bad old days, when politics in Ireland was plagued by corruption, grubby deals and cronyism. We cannot see that. We need to be sure that will not happen again.

I repeat my question. In respect of the former Minister of State, Deputy English, is that behaviour, namely, the submission of false information on a planning application which resulted in a benefit to the individual, tolerated by the Taoiseach's party? I cannot put it any clearer than that. What action is the Taoiseach taking on that, as leader of Fine Gael?

Did the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, receive a written acknowledgement, as required by SIPO guideline 1.3.4, confirming that this was a donation to the party and not to the candidate? What evidence is there that the employees were paid personally rather than through a corporate account to put up the posters? Is it acceptable to the Taoiseach that there was such a long delay between the Minister apparently becoming aware of this inadvertence or error in disclosure and the rectification of that error, which came only as recently as the past few days? Is that delay in rectifying the disclosure acceptable to the Taoiseach?

Of course, what the former Minister of State, Deputy English, did in respect of his planning application 14 years ago is not acceptable - not to my party, not to this Government or not to anyone. That is why he resigned.

He did not resign from the Taoiseach's party. He is still in the parliamentary party, getting rounds of applause.

He resigned and no longer holds office in this Government. Party matters are separate. We have a party disciplinary process. That is not a matter for this Chamber.

It is a valid political question.

With regard to SIPO and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe's, explanation of affairs, he has agreed to answer questions in the Dáil this afternoon. If SIPO carries out an inquiry and asks him to produce any evidence, he will have to do that. He accepts that the delay in putting his affairs in order was a mistake. He acknowledges and apologises for that. He should have made changes to his declaration when he became aware of this a few months ago. He deeply regrets that he did not because we would not be in this position today had he done so. Lots of people in this House, from all parties, have amended their declarations retrospectively when they became aware of omissions. The Minister deeply regrets that he did not do that at the time.

With regard to responsibility for policy on these matters, he is recusing himself from that until all of these matters are resolved. We intend to transfer responsibility to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, by means of transfer order. He has been working in this area for the past two and a half years and knows it already. It makes sense for him to have those powers transferred to him.