Former Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe must appear before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions about the government\u2019s decision to provide an extra \u20ac10 million to the World Bank prior to him taking up a senior position with the international development organisation, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n
Deputy O\u2019Callaghan, who is the party\u2019s finance spokesperson, made his comments in response to reports in the Irish Daily Mail.<\/p>\n
He said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe revelation that former Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe approved an additional \u20ac10 million in taxpayer funding for the World Bank, just months before taking up a lucrative senior role there, raises serious questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to reports, the World Bank recommended a contribution of \u20ac131.4 million from Ireland for 2025\u20132028. Officials in the Department of Finance also advised the same figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite this, an extra \u20ac10 million was provided, bringing the total contribution to \u20ac141.4million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was just months before he resigned his D\u00e1il seat to take up a \u20ac600,000 a year position at the World Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrudent Paschal doesn\u2019t hand out an extra \u20ac10 million lightly \u2013 so what changed?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision raises serious questions \u2013 questions that should be answered by the former minister at the Oireachtas Finance Committee. Current Minister for Finance Simon Harris must also make a statement to the D\u00e1il outlining the government\u2019s rationale for paying the increased sum to the World Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Paschal Donohoe ignore the preferred option from his own department? Did he declare a potential conflict of interests to government colleagues?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd crucially, when was he made aware that a senior role in the World Bank was becoming available?<\/p>\n
\u201cA \u20ac600,000 job followed a \u20ac10 million top up. The timeline demands scrutiny, as does the decision-making process that led to this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
January 13, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe must appear before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions about the government\u2019s decision to provide an extra \u20ac10 million to the World Bank prior to him taking up a senior position with the international development organisation, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O\u2019Callaghan. Deputy O\u2019Callaghan, who is the party\u2019s finance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,88,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cian-ocallaghan","category-finance","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n