Mary Lou McDonald should give donation from gangland criminal to new community fund – Richmond, O’Dowd and Egan

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald must hand over a €1,000 donation from disgraced criminal Jonathan Dowdall so it can be used to prevent crime in our communities, according to three Fine Gael public representatives.

Fine Gael TDs, Neale Richmond and Fergus O’Dowd, alongside Councillor Kenneth Egan, have called on Deputy McDonald to donate the €1,000 she received from Former Sinn Féin councillor Johnathan Dowdall to the Community Safety Innovation Fund.

Each of the representatives are long time champions of the fund introduced by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee.

Dublin Rathdown TD Neale Richmond, said: “Gangland criminals like Jonathan Dowdall are a plague on local communities; their dirty and corrupt money has no place in our political system.

“That Sinn Féin’s leader accepted a €1,000 donation from Jonathan Dowdall, the man who facilitated the most brutal gangland murder Ireland has seen and as she herself admitted, probably used it towards election expenses is appalling.

“The fact that she has not made a more legitimate use of this donation such as to make our communities safer is staggering; she must put this wrong to right.

Deputy Fergus O’Dowd said: “Fine Gael are committed to building stronger, safer communities across Ireland, removing the stain of gangland crime from our neighbourhoods.

“Minister McEntee’s new Community Safety Innovation Fund takes dirty money earned through gangland crime and puts it back into our communities.

“€2 million was put back in communities in 2022, with a further €3 million allocated in 2023.

“Projects in Deputy McDonald’s constituency have benefitted from this funding, but she did not even turn up to an event marking an investment of €253,546 in the community she represents in the Dáil. Deputy McDonald should now do the decent thing and channel it back into her local community through this Fund.

Councillor Kenneth Egan said: “Deputy McDonald knows well the devastating impact of gangland crime on inner city Dublin; she talks a big talk about protecting the younger generations but is happy to sit back and let communities in her own area be impacted by gangland crime when she has the means to help prevent this.

“Is Mary Lou on the side of communities, or is she only interested in keeping this money for her own coffers?”