Sinn Féin couldn’t run a sweet shop let alone a country with their book-keeping– Carroll MacNeill

The fast and loose financial practices of the main opposition party means they are incapable of running a sweet shop let alone a country, a Fine Gael Minister has said.

Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the latest revelations concerning Sinn Féin’s party accounts and statutory declarations, signed off by party treasurer Pearse Doherty, are a financial disaster.

The Standards in Public Offices Commission (SIPO) are investigating Sinn Féin on a series of fronts following wide ranging inconsistencies and contradictions in the party’s financial statements and electoral spending returns.

“Deputy Pearse Doherty is the finance spokesman of his party & serves as national treasurer since 2015. No doubt today, he’ll criticise the Cost of Living decisions taken by Fine Gael to help people and businesses overcome inflation and increased bills.

“Yet he has presided over shambolic financial controls, cost overruns, inability to file correct statutory declarations and, as revealed on several occasions this year, a reluctance to pay SMEs and venues for goods and services stretching back to 2014.

“Not a good look for a potential Finance Minister,” Minister Carroll MacNeill said.

The Irish Times had a senior independent chartered accountant examine issues in Sinn Féin’s finances.

“Based on what the accountant reported, Sinn Féin are looking at the amendment of statutory filings running into hundreds of thousands of euros. The party couldn’t explain discrepancies in figures in returns made to SIPO and the Northern Electoral Commission.

“Sinn Féin is living beyond its means, depending on a highly unusual and questionable political donations, is unable to file correct disclosures to SIPO and has frequently stiffed SMEs,” Minister Carroll MacNeill said.

“We know Sinn Fein is the richest political party in terms of property assets and cash donations – from a range of sources and uses the border as a financial asset.

“Given what we now know about their financial management – stiffing businesses and shoddy accounting – it’s reasonable to ask more questions about how they have come into the very considerable funds they have.

“How does any person come into three million sterling, strictly bequeath it to a political party in the Republic and have it routed North to rest in a bank account up there – against the very express wishes of the deceased in his will?

“What an amazing stroke of luck to receive such a generous donation. Is there any other political party in the world who can boast such good fortune?

“Nevertheless, the revelations over recent weeks show they can’t oversee their own accounts and declarations let alone manage the public coffers.

“The post mistress in Cahersiveen or sweet shop owner in Sligo has to be sure of the source of funds for a few hundred quid. Sinn Féin is a multi-million euro and sterling operation. It has an even higher standard to meet but they couldn’t run a sweet shop properly.

“These revelations of shoddy finances pose further questions that need answers,” Minister Carroll MacNeill said.