The businessman whose legal action prompted Fianna Fáil to cancel a proposed fundraising "super draw" has said he will take further legal actions against political parties he believes are not upholding the law.
In a recent email to its members, Fianna Fáil said that while the intended draw next year had been granted a licence by the relevant court, the party was cancelling it because it was faced by a potentially lengthy and costly judicial review.
In a judicial review application on behalf of businessman Chay Bowes, solicitors Prospect Law sought the quashing of a District Court licence issued in September to Fianna Fáil under the Gaming and Lotteries Act.
They argued on behalf of Mr Bowes that the law only allowed for such licences to be issued for charitable or philanthropic purposes, and that raising funds for Fianna Fáil did not qualify.
“While the licence was validly granted, it would neither be reasonable nor practical to run the super draw against the backdrop of an ongoing legal challenge,” Fianna Fáil said when announcing the decision to cancel the draw and return any funds already collected.
Mr Bowes told The Irish Times he took the case because he was “incredibly angry” that a party in Government would run a draw based on a licence he did not believe should have been sought from the courts.
The businessman was formerly an interim chief executive of the National Association of General Practitioners and came to prominence for publicising and complaining to the Garda about the leaking of confidential documents by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in 2019.
Controversies
He said there had been a number of recent controversies where the leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had each backed “the dysfunction of its coalition partner”.
“I felt someone had to take a stand and challenge it,” Mr Bowes said. The announcement that the draw was being cancelled was “a great result” and he believed that people would feel “empowered” by what had occurred.
“I feel it is time for the voting public and the citizenry of the country to do more to challenge this dysfunction politically.”
He said he felt the holding of the draw was “grossly offensive” to people who work for “genuine charities” and were struggling to raise funds for the homeless or those who suffer domestic violence.
The leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were “licensing each other’s failures and dysfunction”, he said. The two parties were “obliged to abide by the law”.
He and his legal team are looking at whether there were other legal cases that could be pursued, he said. “It certainly won’t be the last time I do that. Absolutely.”
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have reached “some sort of detente” that allows each party to behave as they please, he said. When Sinn Féin tries to hold them to account, they switch the debate to “violence in the North”, he said.
Law amended
Mr Bowes is a business consultant who operates in the health sector and who takes an interest in politics. He is a director of a recently established media platform, Ditch Media.
One legal source, speaking off the record but not connected with Prospect Law, said the law had been amended in 2019 in relation to political parties using the Gaming and Lotteries Act, and that Fine Gael and Sinn Féin had altered their fundraising schemes as a result.
However, Fianna Fáil had continued to seek licences under section 28 of the act. An earlier licence had been issued to the party in February of this year, and used to raise funds in a draw in June, but it was too late to challenge that licence, the source said.
A spokesperson for Fianna Fáil said the party did not wish to comment.
