Taniste accuses Sinn Fein of hypocrisy over construction firm donations

Simon Harris has accused Sinn Fein’s finance spokesperson of being “a hypocrite” for saying the party is on “the side of the working people” after a group which raises money to aid Sinn Fein accepted donations from US construction firms.

In a heated exchange during Thursday’s Leaders’ Questions, Pearse Doherty accused the Taoiseach of prioritising landlords and developers and leaving renters “abandoned”, adding: “Rents are going up and you have no plan to fix it.”

Mr Harris responded: “There’s only one party in this house that is receiving very significant financial funding from builders and construction companies.”

He said the published accounts of the US branch of Friends of Sinn Fein showed the “bulk” of the 366,000 euro it received in donations came from “construction companies and builders”.

The single largest donation of 20,000 dollars coming from a construction company, Mr Harris said.

He added: “Mary Lou (McDonald) flies out to America to take the dollars from the big businesses, big builders.

“You are the party of big American companies.

“You are a hypocrite.”

His comments came after Mr Doherty criticised the Government’s record on housing.

He said rents have risen by 5% across the country, including a jump of 16% in County Leitrim and 15% in County Carlow.

And he also said the average rent is now 20,000 euro a year nationally, but 27,000 euro a year in Dublin.

Mr Doherty claimed: “This is the direct result of Fine Gael’s approach to housing and to renters, letting the market run wild, protecting profits and abandoning ordinary people.”

Mr Harris accused him of “selectively” quoting from publications, saying the RTB’s latest report showed 62% of properties had not seen a year-on-year rent increase.

And claimed Mr Doherty was “celebrating” his “15th anniversary as the opposition spokesperson in finance” because “the people of Ireland don’t trust you when it comes to the economy”.