Paschal Donohoe “followed official advice” that Ireland’s contribution to the World Bank should amount to €141.4 million before he brought that recommendation to Government for approval last year, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.
Opposition TDs have raised questions about the State providing €10 million more than the institution requested, seven months before Mr Donohoe resigned as minister for finance to take up his new post with the World Bank in Washington DC in November.
On Wednesday, Mr Harris argued there has been “an effort by some” to “smear” the decision making process for the funding by the then-minister and “by extension to smear the World Bank”.
In countering the “conflation people are endeavouring to make” Mr Harris said the decision on Irish funding for the World Bank happened several months before a vacancy arose at the institution in October.
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The then-minister announced last April that the Government has approved his recommendation to provide over €140 million in financing for the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).
Last week, the Oireachtas finance committee voted against asking Mr Donohoe to make himself available to answer questions about the State’s contribution to the World Bank.
Paschal Donohoe’s last interview
The committee, voted eight to five against inviting him before them and agreed to ask the Department of Finance for a full briefing and supporting documentation on the matter.
At a press conference on housing on Wednesday, Mr Harris – who assumed the role of Minister for Finance after Donohoe’s departure – defended his former Fine Gael colleague and the Government’s decision on the World Bank funding saying “Paschal Donohoe followed official advice.”
Mr Harris cited a Department of Finance document prepared in advance of the funding decision saying: “the ultimate submission that came to the minister” had a “clear recommendation” and was “categoric”.
He quoted the document as saying: “It is recommended that Ireland contribute at the high end of the range identified in the business case”, ie €141.4 million.
He also said: “Can we just remind ourselves what the World Bank is?
“The specific arm of the World Bank that we’re talking about, the IDA, gives grants and low cost loans to the poorest countries and therefore the poorest people in the world.
“It funds projects and helps projects in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Ethiopia, in Sri Lanka, in Sudan. It is a good thing to do.”
Mr Harris added: “I’m really proud of the decision that this Government made, and it was a Government decision to increase the funding.”
