Pearse Doherty criticises Paschal Donohoe’s ‘wrong decisions’ following resignation

Donegal TD Pearse Doherty, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader and spokesperson on finance, has criticised Paschal Donohoe’s “wrong decisions” and Budget 2026 following his resignation. 

Teachta Doherty was speaking on the Tonight Show following the announcement that Donohoe is resigning from public office in Ireland to take up a role as Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer at the World Bank, based in Washington. 

Doherty and Donohoe were elected to the Seanad in July 2007 and went into the Dáil around the same time in 2010/2011, respectively. 

“Everybody knows, across the political divide, regardless of what you think of his politics and I have no time for the type of politics that Paschal and Fine Gael practice, that's no secret, but he is a nice person,” Teachta Doherty said.  “I think he made my job easy, particularly in the last budget; his parting gift to the public was a budget that left people worse off. 

“I couldn’t understand it. Maybe the fact that he had one foot out the door allowed him to do something which I thought was a major political miscalculation. Even outside of politics, it was the wrong thing to do for the Irish public.”

Former Fine Gael politician Paschal Donohoe was a TD in the Dublin Central constituency. Serving as Minister for European Affairs from 2013–2014; Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport from  2014–2016, Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform: 2016–2020 and Minister for Finance from 2017–2022, and then reappointed in January 2025.  

He was elected President of the Eurogroup - a collective term for meetings of the finance ministers in the eurozone -  in July 2020 and re-elected twice.

Tonight Show Presenter Fionnán Sheehan, who is also Ireland Editor of the Irish Independent, asked Doherty if he would acknowledge Donohoe’s action during Covid-19, designing PUP and the approach of saving funds for a rainy day, through going from deficit to surplus. 

“I think in particular, in the time of the pandemic, he played a very key role and I would have been in regular contact with him,” Teachta Doherty continued. “I have always acknowledged that of all the people who have served in cabinet over the last decade, Paschal Donohue has had a larger imprint on society than anybody else. 

“But that's not just about the fact that we have €8.4 billion surplus next year, it is also the fact that we have a housing crisis that was not an accident, 15,000 people in homeless accommodation. It is not an accident that we have so many people who are dependent on SVP, or that we have higher levels of child poverty.  These are also decisions that have been taken budget after budget. 

“I’m sure Paschal has defended these decisions over the years, but I think they were the wrong calls. It was the wrong call to give tax breaks to developers a quarter of a billion euro while people are watching this programme, wondering is it okay to turn on the heating. They’re the wrong decisions. 

“The continuation of Michael Noonan’s policies supporting the vulture funds has had a damaging effect on housing.”

Donohoe’s departure has prompted a cabinet reshuffle and a Dublin Central by-election. 

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