Sipo to take no action against Donohoe over election returns
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The Standard in Public Office (Sipo) Commission has confirmed that no further action will be taken against Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe in relation to his election returns.
Mr Donohoe was the subject of a complaint to the ethics watchdog earlier this year after a complaint from a member of the public.
That followed several weeks of media queries about his election campaigns in 2016 and 2020.
His failure to properly declare work carried out by a third-party company became the subject of intense political and media scrutiny for almost two weeks and led to two Dáil statements.
The firm of the businessman at the centre of the controversy — Michael Stone’s Designer Group — had been paid €68m in government contracts since 2017.
However, earlier this week, Sipo wrote to Mr Donohoe to notify him that the matter was closed.
It said the amendment made to Minister Donohoe’s election returns by him is consistent with the commission’s approach to compliance and that the matter was “not of sufficient gravity” to warrant investigation.
Mr Donohoe said: “I am grateful to the commission for its work. I regret that this issue occurred and I welcome that it has now been definitively dealt with.
“I also want to thank the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister Ryan and all of my colleagues in Government for their support.”
He said he would be making no further comment.