The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has called on Fine Gael's Mr Jim Mitchell to state whether he has complied with his statutory ethical obligations under the Electoral Act on the privately commissioned poll on the party's leadership.
Fianna Fail is continuing to maintain pressure on the deputy leader of Fine Gael, with almost daily statements from Mr O'Donoghue. He has pointed out that the 1997 legislation prohibits the acceptance, directly or through an intermediary, of an anonymous donation.
"It requires the Public Offices Commission to be notified in writing within 14 days of the receipt of an anonymous donation, and it re quires that the value of the donation - publicly put by Jim Mitchell himself at approximately £10,000 - be remitted to the commission."
Mr Mitchell told The Irish Times yesterday that he had already spoken on the matter and had nothing further to add.
Public relations consultant Mr Nigel Heneghan, who organised the commissioning of the poll, also said he had nothing further to add. He has already denied that the idea of sharing the cost of the £9,000 poll among 20 people who each paid £450 was a strategy to avoid disclosure of names.
Named donations of more than £500 to individual politicians must be disclosed as must anonymous donations of more than £100.
Mr O'Donoghue said Mr Mitchell had publicly accepted that he received what he has termed "a gift" of an opinion poll. He also stated that he did not know the names of the people who paid for the poll.
The Minister said Mr Mitchell should state the date on which he notified the Public Offices Commission of his receipt of the anonymous gift and the value of the cheque which he has sent to the Commission.
"Mr Mitchell should now make a public statement as to when he complied with the ethical obligations imposed on him by section 23 of the Fianna Fail/ PD-introduced Electoral Act 1997 which states that a member of each House of the Oireachtas shall not directly or through any intermediary, accept any donation exceeding £100 in value unless the name and address of the donor is made known to him," Mr O'Donoghue said.