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A Sinn Féin senator resigned after 10,000 pounds sterling (11,070 euros) were incorrectly paid to her bank account seven months ago and were not returned until this week.
Derry Senator Elisha McCallion and two others have resigned from the party after failing to return money they were paid by mistake.
It emerged this week that three party offices were improperly paid under the Northern Ireland Executive’s small business grant scheme. At the end of March, the payment was automatically sent to any business that received the small business fee relief, excluding the MP and MLA constituency offices.
Various Sinn Féin sources have confirmed that Ms McCallion was told “in no uncertain terms that she had to leave”, although party chair Mary Lou McDonald said Foyle’s former MP had resigned.
McDonald said: “I accepted the resignations of the three people responsible for these accounts and for not returning the money: Senator Elisha McCallion, Upper Bann President Comhairle Ceantair, and a party official in West Tyrone.”
He said that the failure to return subsidies paid to the party’s accounts is “very serious.”
“In each case, the grant money has been returned in full, and repayments have been made on Monday and Tuesday of this week.”
Ms. McCallion apologized and confirmed that the grant was deposited into a joint account for which she is signed with her husband. He said he did not request or request the money.
“I fully agree as a named firm on the account that I should have taken further steps to verify this before I was informed. I have submitted my resignation as a member of Seanad Éireann with immediate effect.”
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