Amnesty vows it will not comply with funding law

Amnesty International has been accused of arrogance on a “grand scale” following a vow that the group will not comply with an order from the State’s ethics watchdog to return a donation from a US-based pro-abortion lobby.

The Irish section of Amnesty revealed late last week that the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) has instructed it to return the grant from the New York-based Open Society Foundation (OSF), deeming it to have been contrary to Irish electoral law.

“Amnesty International will not be complying with the instruction,” executive director Colm O’Gorman said, adding that it would “deploy every means at its disposal to challenge this unfair law”.

Failure to comply with SIPO’s instruction is a criminal offence under Irish law, which forbids ‘third parties’ from receiving foreign funding for political campaigns in Ireland.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath said Amnesty’s reaction to SIPO’s finding was “deeply alarming”.
“It has not only acknowledged receipt of a substantial grant totalling €137,000 for abortion reform in this State in direct contravention of the law, but it has also brazenly stated that it will not comply with the SIPO ruling,” he told The Irish Catholic, describing this as “organisational arrogance on a grand scale”.

Scrutiny

Arguing that the matter deserved immediate scrutiny from the Charities Regulator and – if appropriate – the Revenue Commissioners, Mr McGrath said he would be asking the Minister for Local Government to come before the Dáil to clarify how best to tackle “flagrant violations of electoral law”.

“The flaunting of the breach of electoral regulations by Amnesty International shows the very hubris we’ve come to see from them with their perversion of human rights by presenting abortion as a human right, when it’s the removal of one,” independent Senator Ronan Mullen told The Irish Catholic.

Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív TD – a former minister with responsibility for electoral law – said “the law is clear on this issue and it is the job of SIPO to ensure the law is complied with. The purpose of the law is clear from its terms.”