Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould has formally sought an opportunity to address the Dáil in relation to his arrest over an alleged €150,000 fraud at a former employer.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald confirmed on Monday that Mr Gould has contacted Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy to seek speaking time when the Dáil resumes next week.
“He has given a very detailed statement to the gardaí,” said Ms McDonald on Monday. “He emphatically rejects the accusations made against him and believes he will vindicate himself in full.
“The Garda now has a job to do. (It) needs to get on with that,” she said.
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Following a report in The Irish Times on Saturday, Mr Gould confirmed he had been arrested by appointment the previous day and was released without charge. Mr Gould said he believed he would be vindicated following the investigation.
A second Sinn Féin representative, Cork City councillor Kenneth Collins, was arrested in early January by appointment arising from the same investigation. He was also released without charge and has denied any wrongdoing.
The investigation concerning a Cork-based company is understood to be focusing on the 2014-2019 period. Both men were elected representatives at the time. Mr Collins was first elected for the party in 2014, while Mr Gould sat on Cork City Council between 2009 and 2020, when he was elected to the Dáil.
Gardaí say it is likely to take a number of months to complete a file for the DPP into alleged fraud offences.
Mr Gould was released without charge and gardaí will now prepare a file on the matter, but Garda sources have said that it is likely to take a number of months to complete the file such is the volume of documents gathered by gardaí.
“There is a huge amount of documentation involved because the complaint relates to a five-year period from 2014 to 2019 and involves invoices, time sheets, pay slips and tachograph readings as well as company and personal bank accounts, so there is lot to be put together in the file,” a Garda source said.
Mr Gould was first contacted by gardaí on January 16th notifying him that a complaint had been made against him and investigators advised him to seek legal advice and he undertook to do that and meet them by arrangement last Friday for arrest and questioning.
“I am entirely innocent and reject the complaint which my former employer has made against me. I am confident that my position will be vindicated, having met with the investigating gardaí where I made a detailed statement,” said Mr Gould in a statement issued by his solicitor William Harvey.
Mr Collins, who worked as a truck driver for the same company as Mr Gould up until his departure in 2019, was arrested and questioned by gardaí at Togher Garda Station on January 3rd and was similarly held for over 10 hours before being released without charge.
On Sunday, Mr Collins’s solicitor Frank Buttimer confirmed that his client had left employment with the company approximately six years ago and had been in good standing with the firm for a “long number of years”.
He confirmed Mr Collins had been arrested in early January by arrangement, that he denied all wrongdoing and had fully co-operated with the Garda investigation having been given the details of a complaint against him for the first time during the interview.
A Garda source said that gardaí at Gurranebraher Garda Station received a complaint from the former owner of the company alleging fraud offence approximately three years ago and a team of investigators has been carrying out inquiries ever since.
“The arrests only come when you have all the material gathered so they are close to the end of the investigation, but there’s still quite a lot of tidying up to do such is the volume of material, so it will take a number of months yet before the file is complete to send to the DPP,” the source added.
