MP for North Antrim, Ian Paisley, has been fined £1,300 for accepting donations towards a fundraising dinner from ‘impermissible donors’ which was held in Ballymena in 2017.
The dinner at the Tullyglass Hotel in the North Antrim town took place in January 2017, where both Mid & East Antrim Council and Causeay Coast & Glens Council each paid £1,500 for tables at the even.
Despite the councils in question saying that they had made the payments to the Hotel as part of attendance at a business event, the Electoral Commission ruled that this had been a fundraising event and that the councils are not ‘permissible donors’ legally in relation to political donations.
The sanction against Mr Paisley was put in place following the ‘failure’ by the MP to return donations from ‘impermissible donors’ within thirty-days’ after receiving them.
The MP had been given a deadline of October 8th to pay the £1,300 fine.
