Pearse Doherty has ordered local Sinn Féin branches to pay their bills, after a printing company was forced to chase the party for four years over an unpaid €5,000 for election posters.
The party’s finance spokesperson said the unpaid bill was a matter for the party’s local area organisation.
The political party didn’t pay a bill for election posters, some of which featured leader Mary Lou McDonald endorsing candidates, Independent.ie revealed.
Sinn Féin fail to pay bill for posters featuring Mary Lou McDonald backed candidates
New cost of living package will be last one before the next budget, says Finance Minister Michael McGrath
A poster-printing company chased the party for four years to pay the bill of more than €5,000.
It eventually wrote off the debt, which went unpaid because of an internal dispute in Sinn Féin over whether the tab should be picked up nationally or locally.
The unpaid posters bill dates back to the 2014 local elections, and some of the candidates on the posters went on to become TDs.
Mr Doherty, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson, said it was “deeply regrettable” that the bill went unpaid.
“First of all, Sinn Féin at head office have paid all of their bills, that’s very clear. What this story reflects is some local areas in the 2014 local elections didn’t pay their bills,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“That’s deeply. Deeply regrettable, of course people should pay their bills. Head office can’t pay that bill, that is a matter for the local areas, the local areas ordered the bill.
“It is for local areas to pay it and the key thing for me is to make sure that local areas do pay that bill. It’s long outstanding and all bills should be paid.”
Mr Doherty said he will direct the appropriate office to pay the bill “as far as we can”.
“I’ve already reached out to the finance department in Sinn Féin and have asked them to go back to local areas to ensure that those bills are paid,” he said.
“All outstanding debts, whether they’re raised at a local level, or a national level should be paid.”
The posters were ordered from and produced by one of the country’s biggest printing companies, The Printed Image, based in west Dublin.
Following revelations on Independent.ie of Sinn Féin’s previous accounting issues, a former employee contacted this publication to say there was a problem with another election bill not being paid.
The company confirmed there was an unpaid bill and has records of the initial order, the invoices and the tracking of the debt up to 2018, when it had to be written off as it could not be collected.
The posters were ordered by Sinn Féin in February, April and May 2014, and the bills were followed up on multiple occasions until June 2018 when €5,305.78 was written off as a bad debt due to failure to pay.
Sinn Féin did pay for some of the work done for the 2014 local elections – but not all.
The Printed Image managing director Tom Moriarty said the company’s normal system for billing and payment was followed but to no avail.
“The staff who were involved at the time were being told by head office it was the candidates and local organisation who owed the bill, and the candidates and local organisation were saying it was head office. We were left with the outstanding invoices. We chased and chased,” he said.
And the bill can still be settled, Mr Moriarty said: “It’s never too late for anyone to pay up for past invoices.”
Sinn Féin fail to pay bill for posters featuring Mary Lou McDonald backed candidates
New cost of living package will be last one before the next budget, says Finance Minister Michael McGrath