Fine Gael senator to amend register of interests after failing to declare company directorship

Paddy Burke failed to disclose that he was a director and secretary of a food packaging firm in his latest declaration of interests

• 14:50, 19 OCT 2023
• Updated15:38, 19 OCT 2023

A Fine Gael senator has said he will seek to amend the Oireachtas Register of Members’ Interests after it emerged that he had failed to declare that he was a director of a food packaging company.

Paddy Burke, who previously served as cathaoirleach of the Seanad, became a director of iFood Packaging Systems Limited when the company was incorporated in 2015. He is currently listed as the secretary of the firm and signed off on its most recent financial accounts.

However, he failed to declare his interest in the company in the latest Register of Members’ Interests, which requires senators and TDs to disclose their shareholdings, property ownership, state contracts, and directorships.

When the omission was brought to his attention by the Irish Mirror, Mr Burke said he had mistakenly understood that the company had been dissolved in 2020. He accepted that it had not, however, and undertook to amend his declaration of interests.

“iFood Packaging Systems Limited was established in 2015 and I was a director of the company when it made its last annual return in 2020. The company has not traded in Ireland since 2019 and I have had no hand, act or part in its affairs since 2020,” he stated.

“My directorship of the company had been included in my return of the Register of Members’ Interests published in March 2021. Given that the company has not been trading in Ireland, it had been my understanding that the business had been dissolved in 2020.

“Given that it has not yet been dissolved, I am making an amendment to the Register of Members’ Interests to reflect this fact. I will be resigning as a director seen (sic) that it has not been dissolved,” he added.

Mr Burke was one of six senators who lost the party whip following their attendance at the ‘Golfgate’ event that took place in Connemara, Co Galway during the Covid-19 pandemic. The party unanimously voted to restore the whip to the Mayo senator in January 2021.

He is the latest in a series of politicians who have had to amend their declaration of interests.

Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy resigned as a junior minister in August last year after failing to declare a number of property and business interests. Seven senators and TDs amended their declaration shortly after his resignation.

They included Education Minister Norma Foley, Junior Minister James Browne, Senators Catherine Ardagh and Mark Daly, as well as Ceann Comhairle Sean Ó Fearghaíl and Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe have since updated their returns after it emerged that they had failed to declare a rental property and company directorship, respectively.

In February, Fianna Fáil Senator Ollie Crowe amended his declaration after it emerged that he had failed to include his ownership of a bar in Galway city.