Sinn Féin still has questions to answer after being forced to return £30k in Covid emergency funds meant for struggling businesses – Currie

Sinn Féin still has questions to answer after being forced to return £30,000 of COVID-19 emergency funds meant for struggling businesses, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator Emer Currie, Fine Gael Northern Ireland spokesperson said: “Sinn Féin still has a number of questions to answer after it was found that three of its politicians had received COVID-19 emergency funds meant for businesses struggling during COVID-19. While the resignation of the three politicians was the difficult and right thing for them to do, Sinn Féin as an organisation still has questions to answer.

“Why did it take so long for all of the Sinn Féin politicians to return the funds that were meant for businesses struggling to cope with the pandemic? It seems they only did so after the BBC unveiled what was going on.

“When did the Sinn Féin leadership or party headquarters learn that these funds had been received by their politicians and if they knew, why were they not encouraged to return the funds sooner?

“Can Sinn Féin categorically say that other politicians in their party have not also received these funds? Will Sinn Féin conduct a full review of the matter?

“Sinn Féin claims to be the party of working people, yet the actions of their politicians in relation to this COVID emergency funding just shows their hypocrisy.

“People might ask why does this matter now the politicians in question have resigned. However there are real concerns that Sinn Féin would wish to drag us back to the bad old days of Irish politics where brown envelopes were the norm and politicians behaved as though they were above the very people they claim to represent.

“When Fine Gael entered government we introduced a law banning cash donations of more than €200 to politicians or political parties. This law also requires corporate donors to register publicly with SIPO if they make a donation of between €200 and less than €2,500, with donations of more than €2,500 prohibited.  Nor can donations be accepted from people who reside outside the State unless they are Irish citizens.

“This was a very significant step forward in reforming political donations, ensuring transparency, and breaking the old links between big money and politics. We have made so much progress as a country in terms of cleaning up politics and Sinn Féin cannot be allowed to undo it. Sinn Féin must be held to the same scrutiny as other parties and must uphold the standards that the public deserve.

“Sinn Féin is the richest political party in the country. In the North, their income for 2019 alone was £2,495,054. By comparison, the SDLP income was less than £145,835. South of the border they own more than 50 properties, unheard of in comparison to other political parties.

“The £30,000 received by the three politicians was money that should have been spent on struggling businesses who had to close back in March. Sinn Féin claim to be in touch with normal people but most normal people would notice if £10,000 unexpectedly appeared in their bank account.

“This type of hypocrisy is the norm for Sinn Féin

“They recently accepted a donation of €4 million into the party’s accounts in the North where there are much more lenient controls on political donations compared with south of the border, where donations are capped at a maximum of €2,500 in a single year. And they have a significant fundraising network in the United States, such as Friends of Sinn Féin that has a site where you can donate money to support them in the North of Ireland.

“It is just like the hypocrisy they display by stating they have no business taking their seats in Westminster yet allow their MPs to claim millions in expenses; €4.5 million was claimed by the party between 2010 – 2019.

“Sinn Féin has clear questions to answer in relation to their culture around finance and I think Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill must fully clarify their understanding immediately,” concluded Senator Currie.