The Oireachtas Finance Committee has voted against asking former Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to attend to answer questions about why the State paid an extra €10 million to the World Bank before he took up a position there.
The decision regarding Ireland’s contribution was made just months before Mr Donohoe, a senior government figure, joined the World Bank in a €600,000 job.
The committee, which scrutinises the work of the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure, voted eight to five against calling on Mr Donohoe to answer questions on the issue.
The proposal put forward at the private meeting had been to invite the former Finance Minister and the current holder of the office, Simon Harris, to appear before the committee to answer questions. The committee is chaired by Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin.
Its members are TDs Edward Timmons (Fine Gael), Shay Brennan (Fianna Fáil), Colm Burke (Fine Gael), Pearse Doherty (Sinn Féin), Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fáil), Aindrias Moynihan (Fianna Fáil), Ged Nash (Labour Party) and Cian O’Callaghan (Social Democrats). Senators on the committee are Cahal Byrne (Fine Gael), Pat Casey (Fianna Fáil), Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent), Conor Murphy (Sinn Féin), and Joe O’Reilly (Fine Gael).
Donohoe, 51, quit Irish politics in November with immediate effect to become the managing director and chief knowledge officer at the World Bank. It was revealed over the weekend that Mr Donohoe provided an extra €10 million in funding for the World Bank in April last year, seven months before he started his new senior role.
‘A TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT?’
Whilst the World Bank recommended a contribution of €131.4 million from Ireland from 2025 to 2028, Mr Donohoe opted to provide them with €141.4 million on April 24 2025.
This was despite the fact officials in the Finance Department also recommended significantly less.
TDs including Peadar Tóibín, Cian O’Callaghan, and Pearse Doherty of Sinn Fein this week urged Donohoe to appear before the Finance Committee over the revelation. Last night, Mr Tóibín responded on X by posing the question: “A transparent government?????”
Raising the issue in the Dail, Mr Tóibín said that the decision to “excessively fund” the World Bank “to the tune of €10 million” was “potentially a serious conflict of interest”.
“That a former Minister for Finance would provide an extra €10 million of funding in excess of what the World Bank sought and in excess of what his own officials in the Department advised, an increase of 33% in funding just seven months before he landed a job worth €600,000 a year, is highly problematic,” the TD said.
“When we ask for money for people with disabilities or carers, the Government says there is no magic money tree yet there seems to be a magic money tree when it comes to funding organisations such as this. Will the Taoiseach join with Aontú in seeking that Paschal Donohoe makes himself available to the finance committee to answer questions on this?”
Responding, the Taoiseach said that the money, which went to the international development association, provided “highly concessional finance, grants and zero or low-interest loans to the world’s poorest countries and supports 75 of the poorest countries globally, including 39 in Africa. It is the largest single donor for basic social services in these countries.”
Mr Martin claimed that the options for contribution included “going from no contribution to maintaining the IDA20 level, that is, €105 million. The low option was €141.4 million. The high option was €158.9 million.”