Serious questions for Sinn Féin to answer after receiving £30k in Covid emergency funds – Doherty

Sinn Féin’s leadership have been left with serious questions to answer after three of their offices received payments from an emergency Covid fund for small businesses, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Leader of Seanad Éireann, Regina Doherty, said there has been an alarming silence from Sinn Féin as yet another financial scandal emerged after three of their politicians’ offices received public money they were not entitled to from Stormont funds.

Senator Doherty said several questions need to be answered immediately:

“How is it Sinn Féin received £30k of public money from a Covid emergency scheme when their offices were ineligible? When was it paid back and how long did it take?

“Why did it take until now to uncover this after the payments would have been made last March? Has it all been paid back? And how did they receive the funding without applying for it?

“Despite their pleas of innocence, Sinn Féin face serious questions about this scheme. To date, they have not been forthcoming in their answers on this.

“This is just another incident in a long series of financial irregularities regarding Sinn Féin.

“Their lack of cooperation with SIPO and the vast sums of money from individual donors show how they exploit the separate jurisdictions for their own political gain.

“If Sinn Féin is the all-island party they claim to be then it’s time they opened their books and were transparent with the people of Ireland,” Senator Doherty said.