Amnesty to fight order to return ’8th Amendment campaign’ donation to US based foundation
Amnesty Ireland has insisted tonight there is nothing underhand about the funding they have received from the American based Open Society Foundation.
The Standards in Public Office Commission - SIPO - has ordered Amnesty to return the €137,000 donation from the George Soros funded foundation.
The donation was used to fund a campaign for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.
SIPO says foreign donors can’t legally contribute to election or referendum campaigns and the money must be returned.
The CEO of Amnesty in Ireland, Colm O’Gorman, has said the group will not be complying with SIPO’s order.
"We believe the law in this case is both unjust and inappropriately applied.
"We will not comply with this instruction and we are exploring every possible avenue which we can use to ensure the flaws in this legislation are addressed.
In April RTE reported that the Abortion Rights Campaign confirmed it had returned a grant it received from a US-based foundation led by the billionaire George Soros, following communications from the Republic’s Standards In Public Office Commission, also known as SIPO.
