Tá an tAire, an Teachta Donohoe, i lár conspóide mar gheall gur briseadh rialacha síntiúis thoghcháin. In olltoghchán 2016, fuair an tAire, an Teachta Donohoe, síntiús polaitíochta ó fhear gnó nár fhógair sé agus bhí sé os cionn an méid atá ceadaithe faoin dlí. Tá an cheist seo á seachaint ag an Aire ó 2017 agus dhiúltaigh sé aréir d’aon cheist eile a fhreagairt air seo. Tá ceisteanna ann a gcaithfidh sé a fhreagairt. Níl dabht ar bith faoi sin agus tá sé tuillte ag an bpobal go bhfreagródh sé na ceisteanna sin.

On 14 July 2020, the Tánaiste and then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, came to this House and spoke in respect of a Government Minister who was in the middle of a controversy refusing to answer questions in the Dáil. This was after the Minister had given a statement to the House. He stated:

... he has decided that he is not prepared to address this allegation publicly and will not make any further statement or answer any questions on this issue in this House.

This decision has created a situation where legitimate doubts and additional questions are being raised. Government colleagues are expected to address these. This is simply untenable. It is my view that Deputy Cowen had an obligation to come before the House. It is also my view that this issue is damaging to the ongoing work of the Government.

This was just hours before the then Taoiseach sacked Teachta Cowen as a Cabinet Minister. Fast forward to the situation we had last night. A Minister who has been embroiled in controversy is refusing to answer questions in the Dáil and making a virtue of the fact that he will not say anything else on the matter and nothing is being done. What happened in this Chamber last night was farcical and completely unacceptable. On this issue, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has made not just one statement before the House, but two statements. Yet, he answered none of the questions that were put to him. Today, as his concocted story lies in tatters, he announced that he wants to make another statement - statement number three - before the Dáil. I, along with other Deputies in the Opposition, put dozens of detailed questions to the Minister last night and he refused point blank to answer those questions.

What is needed is what other Ministers have undertaken to ensure that they are accountable to this House, namely, questions and answers before the Dáil in real time. When the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, leaked a confidential document to his friend and was subject to a SIPO investigation - not only a SIPO complaint but a Garda inquiry - he came before this House and answered questions in real time, over and back, for well over an hour and a half. When the Minister, Deputy McEntee, appointed a Fine Gael activist as a judge to the Supreme Court she did likewise, answering questions over and back and being accountable to this House.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, does not need 24 hours to make his statement fit with the concocted narrative he has given on a number of different occasions. Does the Tánaiste believe the Minister's story? If so, which version of it does he believe? Has the Tánaiste asked the Minister if Michael Stone, a personal friend and political supporter, paid for posters to be erected for him in the 2020 campaign, having done so in the previous general election? That question was put to the Minister four times last night and he refused to answer it. Has the Tánaiste asked the Minister anything about this controversy in which he is embroiled or is it one rule for the Tánaiste’s Government Ministers and another rule for Fine Gael Government Ministers? Will the Tánaiste ensure that the Government Whip brings an amendment to the Order of Business so that proper questions and answers can be posed to this Minister who point blank refused to make any other comment on this matter but has been forced to make a U-turn and wants to make a third statement? A statement does not cut it. We demand accountability. We demand questions and answers with the Minister and that he come clean.

Hear, hear.

Is é mo thuairim agus is é an taithí atá agam ó bheith ag obair leis an Aire, an Teachta Donohoe, ná gur fearr ionraic macánta atá ann. Déanann sé a dhícheall gach aon lá ar son na tíre. Oibríonn sé ar son mhuintir na tíre go macánta. Caithfidh mé é sin a rá. Is é sin an taithí atá agam féin agus mé ag obair leis an Aire, an Teachta Donohoe, ar feadh dhá bhliain go leith. Caithfidh mé é sin a chur os comhair na Dála.

First, I am essentially saying that from working with the Minister in Government over the past two and a half years, I have found him to be a very competent, dedicated and honourable Minister. I have to put that on the record of the House.

Hear, hear.

That has been my experience in my engagement with him. He has the country’s interests at heart in the discharge of his duties as a Minister.

Second, I offer the viewpoint that in a legitimate controversy and issue of this kind we need balance and perspective in how we approach these issues. I make that point in terms of the issue at stake here. It is essential that Members across the House adhere to the regulations and rules governing political donations, electoral spending and the various rules the House has created through legislation to ensure the proper conduct of elections and political affairs in this country. That is important but in the consideration of that we need to have balance and perspective with regard to the issues at hand.

Third, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has come before the House in relation to this issue and it is my understanding that he will do so again at the earliest opportunity. We in this House took the decision to establish a body via legislation, the Standards in Public Office Commission, or SIPO, to investigate complaints that are lodged with SIPO in respect of any individual or Member of the House where the complaint alleges there has been a breach of the rules or guidelines. The Minister has come before the House. A legitimate question that we all must ask ourselves in respect of electoral laws and the political donation regulations is whether it is the view that we should have a process for detailed investigations that operates parallel with SIPO. There is a genuine issue there.

To be fair, Deputy Doherty’s party acknowledged that it did not fully include all expenditure in a recent election in its statement. I think some €7,000 paid to a political polling company was not included. If I am correct, and Deputy Doherty may correct me, his party received a major donation from, I think, William Hampton of €4 million or €5 million. Sinn Féin has always said it is a 32-county party but in respect of any complaints or accountability to SIPO in regard to that legacy of €4 million to €5 million, which was extraordinary in itself, Sinn Féin opted to say that there is a six-county Sinn Féin party to which that money has gone and it has not gone to the party in the Republic. Some would say that is a circumvention of the SIPO rules and regulations, although Deputy Doherty may disagree with that.

Exactly.

I merely say that because people can legitimately complain and we then have to weigh up who ultimately does the investigation in terms of the detail of a complaint. There is a danger. I fully subscribe to the idea of accountability to the House. Perhaps in the aftermath of the SIPO investigation, that accountability can be dealt with in more detail-----

Time is up.

-----but there is a problem with how I determine how Members want to proceed.

Just like the Minister, the Tánaiste did not answer any of my questions. There is a bit of a pattern here. Let us be clear about this. Deputy Donohoe is the Minister who oversees the SIPO legislation. SIPO has been begging for additional powers and the Minister has refused those on a number of occasions. The matter is serious. There was a donation. In fairness, the Fianna Fáil candidate disclosed how much it cost to put up election posters in the same constituency in the same election. It was €4,920. A businessman offered that service to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, who did not declare any donation above €600. Whether the donation is in hard cash or a donation in kind, it has to be declared. It is unlawful to accept a donation above €1,000.

That is what the core allegations here are.

The problem the Minister has is that, when it was pointed out that at least the van was used in 2017, he did not do anything about it. He was overseeing this legislation, yet did not do anything about it. Last year, when a number of journalists put these questions to him, he stated he had carried out a review and everything was in order. What we need is accountability, the same accountability the Taoiseach had when he was subject to a Garda investigation and a SIPO investigation. The Minister needs to come before the House and answer questions. Will the Tánaiste facilitate that and facilitate the Opposition in putting questions to the Minister and getting answers? Has he asked the Minister about any of these matters, such as whether Michael Stone paid for the erection of posters for the Minister during his campaign in 2020?

First of all, the Minister spoke to me on Sunday and outlined what had transpired. He gave an account and apologised to me for the omission and the mistake he had made in respect of this. He did raise those issues with me. He has also offered to come before the House again at the earliest opportunity in respect of the issues the Deputy raised.

I am struck by the language the Deputy used in questioning me. He used the term "concocted". That is a very partisan comment. He is entitled to make that comment but it is a very partisan one. It strikes me that the reason the House established SIPO in the first instance by legislation was to ensure an independent, rigorous and procedurally correct approach to investigating any alleged breaches of the regulations we have created within this House. The very language the Deputy uses in his subjective assessment, which he is entitled to have, underpins the reason SIPO was established in the first place.

Did you ask him about the 2020 posters? You are not interested.

Deputy Cairns, please.