FINE GAEL HAS said that officers in one of its branches in Enda Kenny’s home constituency of Mayo have committed to filing accounting returns within the next seven days
It follows TheJournal.ie’s report this morning that gardaí have been unable to find the person responsible for the accounts of the Partray branch of the party in the Taoiseach’s backyard.
The Standards in Public Office (SIPO) Commission said yesterday that files relating to the Fine Gael branch in Partry in Co Mayo were passed to gardaí in 2012 after it failed to file returns.
However investigating officers haven’t been able to locate the person responsible for the accounts.
It’s emerged that this person had in fact left the country, but Fine Gael sought to play down the matter in a statement responding to today’s coverage.
The party said that the matter was “an administrative error” that involved “negligible funds” and was compounded “by the fact that the relevant officer is now working abroad”.
Fine Gael also said that branch officers are “committed” to submitting the appropriate returns within the next seven days.
Here is Fine Gael’s statement in full this evening:
In keeping with procedure, the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) Commission has passed files relating to a Fine Gael branch in Mayo to the Gardaí. This is normal practice when accounting returns are not submitted to SIPO.
As this case is with the Gardaí, Fine Gael has no desire to get involved, other than to clarify that this issue has arisen out of an administrative error, involving negligible funds and compounded by the fact that the relevant officer is now working abroad. Branch officers are committed to submitting the appropriate returns within seven days.
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