Mary Lou McDonald refuses to apologise over offshore accounts

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald has again refused to apologise for naming a number of former politicians in the Dáil chamber.

Ms McDonald could face a motion of censure for her decision to list a series of ex-politicians who are alleged to have offshore accounts to evade tax.

Speaking on Newstalk radio this morning, the Sinn Féin TD denied she did it to “cause public controversy”.

She said: “My objective here is not to cause public controversy or put myself into a big row.

“Frankly, there is a lot going on in public life. There is a lot of representation people need so I don’t need to be creating distractions.

“Nor is it my intention to cause in a gratuitous fashion any kind of discomfort or annoyance to any other person.”

Ms McDonald said her sole objective in raising the matter was that the allegations are fully and conclusively investigated.

She said: “Once that is done, I will be happy. I will be satisfied that as a parliamentarian that I have done the appropriate and right thing.”

The Sinn Féin deputy leader was found to have abused her Dáil privilege when she named a series of former politicians in the chamber who were accused of having offshore accounts to evade tax.

Four former TDs including former Progressive Democrats leaders Des O'Malley and Mary Harney wrote to the committee following the comments.

They all categorically denied the allegations which were made in a dossier to the Public Accounts Committee.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show, Ms McDonald said she has not received any information on a possible motion of censure.

She said there was no good reason to make such a move because she made the statement based on a dossier.

The Sinn Féin TD said she would have absolutely no difficulty in “fully acknowledging” if she was wrong.

But she said she cannot do that until a full and transparent investigation into the claims is carried out.