Complaint about donations to Leo Varadkar does not need criminal investigation, gardaí say

Gardaí have determined that a complaint about donations to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar does not meet the threshold for criminal investigation and have referred the matter back to the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) watchdog.

Earlier this year, People Before Profit councillor Hazel De Nortúin submitted a complaint to Gardaí about three donation statements made by Mr Varadkar.

That complaint was then referred to senior gardaí. However a source confirmed to The Irish Times that after consideration, gardaí have determined that the complaint does not meet the threshold for criminal investigation, and that the matter has been referred back to the Standards in Public Office (Sipo).

A spokesman for An Garda Siochana confirmed that there is no criminal investigation.

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“An Garda Síochána does not comment on complaints made by or against named individuals.

“In general, such complaints are assessed to see if the allegation(s) meets the threshold for a potential criminal offence. There is no such criminal investigation into such a complaint.”

“In general, when it has been assessed that there is no potential criminal offence, such matters are referred to SIPO.”

Last summer, Mr Varadkar confirmed that the Sipo had queried donations made to him, with a spokesman saying at the time that such queries were a regular occurrence between politicians and Sipo.

The queries were in relation to fundraisers he held in 2018 and 2022.

Mr Varadkar received a donation of €1,033 from Dr Ray Power, a general practitioner and co-founder of the medical practice network, Centric Health.

As the donation was above the allowable limit of €1,000 from a single individual, a sum of €33 has since been returned by Mr Varadkar.

Two donations were also refunded to PR company Edelman, following donations the company made to two fundraisers. It is understood there was confusion around whether the individual attendees who used Edelman’s tickets had in fact reimbursed the company. Ultimately, the donations were reimbursed.

Under the law donations of more than €600 must be declared to Sipo.

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar said gardaí have not contacted him about the matter.

“The Taoiseach’s opponents regularly make complaints about him to Sipo, the Gardaí, the courts and even the Medical Council. The Taoiseach is fully compliant with the requirements of the Standards in Public Office Commission with regard to political donations and has been informed that Sipo has no outstanding queries or questions for him. The Gardaí have not been in contact with the Taoiseach about this matter.”

A spokesman for SIPO said: “Due to the nature of SIPO’s role as an impartial oversight body, and in order to be fair to all parties involved, we do not provide any comment regarding individual cases of compliance.”

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