Sinn Féin still try to deny Mary Lou McDonald took €1,000 from criminal Jonathan Dowdall – Farrell

Dowdall, who tortured a man while serving as a Sinn Féin councillor and went onto facilitate a notorious gangland murder, donated his constituency colleague, Mary Lou McDonald, €1,000 via a cheque in 2011.

“The Sinn Féin leader recorded it in handwriting in her SIPO returns that year. She had to declare it by the law.

“Had it been donated to the party, the €1,000 would have been under the threshold and we would not know about it,” Deputy Farrell said.

At the weekend, speaking on Newstalks’s Anton Savage show, Sinn Féin Deputy Eoin O’Broin incorrectly and wrongly claimed the donation went to the party.

Deputy O’Broin said: ‘Jonathan Dowdall, over a decade ago, before anybody knew what he was involved in, made a donation to the party that was recorded, it was fully compliant with SIPO.”

Deputy Farrell said the statement by Deputy O’Broin “is absolutely misleading and wrong and needs to be corrected.”

“We know Mary Lou McDonald took money from the criminal as she recorded it in her returns. It didn’t go to the party, it didn’t go to the constituency it went to Mary Lou McDonald – nobody else. Let’s be very clear about that. Sinn Féin have been trying to muddy the waters on this issue for months.

“Why do Sinn Féin continue to try to mislead the public about the irrefutable fact that Jonathan Dowdall directed donated money to Mary Lou McDonald?

“Sinn Féin are still trying to deny that their leader received money, which they won’t give up or return, from their criminal councillor.”

Deputy Farrell said Mary Lou McDonald needs to correct the record and her assertion made on Newstalk last November that the donation went to the constituency.

“This is a matter of public interest and there are other donations from Dowdall made to Sinn Féin fundraisers that also need to be cleared up. Where did his cash derive from and how much exactly has Dowdall given to Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin,” Deputy Farrell concluded.