Mary Lou McDonald calls on Paschal Donohoe to 'clarify' dinner ...

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe to “clarify” details around a private and previously undisclosed dinner meeting he held with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary in February 2022.

The Irish Times reported on Thursday that Mr Donohoe held a dinner meeting at the upmarket Dublin restaurant Delahunt in 2022. A spokeswoman for Mr Donohoe said it was a private dinner and that no business matters were discussed, and neither were matters of policy or regulation.

It was not included in his ministerial diary – which his spokeswoman said is “used predominantly to log official events”. No records were kept as it was a private dinner, and no actions were taken arising from it, she said.

When first contacted by The Irish Times earlier this month about whether Mr Donohoe had met Mr O’Leary, the Minister’s team did not disclose the dinner until after they were approached again with more information about its timing.

Speaking on Thursday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Mr Donohoe “needs to clarify what the situation is”, and that “a bit of transparency and a bit of straightforwardness from them now wouldn’t go astray”.

Ms McDonald was speaking at DCU where she spoke to students and promised to address the housing crisis, introduce affordable student accommodation and bring down the cost of living. She said she believed that the general election campaign is now getting into gear.

“I think the conversation about this campaign is really only kicking off now. I think it’s in the last week that people really only weigh up what is in their best interests and the best interests of their families. I passionately believe after a century of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that the time is now for another government. We are asking people to give us a chance, and then judge us on how we perform.”

The Sinn Féin leader was also asked again about her party’s plans to commission an independent review into RTÉ's coverage on international conflicts. Ms McDonald said she would clarify issues that have been raised with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). The manifesto committed to commissioning an “independent human rights and journalist expert review into the objectivity of coverage by RTÉ of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and other international conflicts”.

“Just to reiterate the objective of this is to have a peer review led by journalists and human rights experts on international coverage – we have cited Gaza in particular because a genocide is under way and it is being televised. The objective of this is not to interfere with editorial independence at all, the review would have to be commissioned at arm’s length from government, either by the editorial standards board within RTÉ or by Coimisiún na Meán.”

“By the way the BBC had commissioned a similar review, of their own volition yes, and found it to be a very useful process. This is about public confidence and this is about trust. In my opinion everything that is done that adds to confidence and building and consolidating trust is very good. They are in receipt of very substantial amounts of public money. So their governance procedures and standards need to be bang on. I am going to clarify all of those matters with the NUJ.”

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