GAA sponsor firm gives £2,000 donation to Ulster Unionist MP Robin Swann
The Errigal Group, one of Ireland’s best known construction firms, is currently the main sponsor of Co Derry’s GAA teams.
The Errigal Group, one of Ireland’s best known construction firms, is currently the main sponsor of Co Derry’s GAA teams.The Sunday World has learned the company also recently made a £2,000 donation to newly-elected UUP MP Robin Swann.Details of the donation are included in the latest register of interests released by the House of Commons.All MPs must declare any financial interest they have, or any benefit or donation they receive, which someone else “might reasonably consider to influence what they say or do as an MP”.Mr Swann was elected as South Antrim MP in the July 4 general election, ousting the DUP’s MP Paul Girvan from the seat he had held since 2017.In his first submission to the register of interests, Mr Swann includes details of three donations he has received.As well as the £2,000 from the Errigal Group, he has received a £5,000 donation from an individual donor, Alan Dunlop, and £2,000 from the Newtownabbey-based company Novogen Engineering.All three of these donations were registered on July 18.However, it is the donation to the new UUP MP from the Errigal Group which will stand out for many people, given the firm’s close association with the GAA.The company, which has been involved in major construction projects around the world, signed a five-year deal in 2021 to sponsor the Co Derry teams.In recent years, the Derry senior football team has been one of the most successful in Ireland, winning the National League this season and the Ulster title last year.Derry were narrowly beaten by Kerry in last year’s All-Ireland final, but performed poorly in this year’s All-Ireland series under new manager Mickey Harte, who recently stepped down from the role.Despite this year’s difficulties, Derry are still regarded as one of the country’s best teams and regularly feature on TV coverage and other media platforms – ensuring a good return for the Errigal Group on their sponsorship deal.The company, which has bases in Derry, Monaghan and London, operates across the hotel, education, commercial, residential, pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, with more than 320 projects completed in 12 countries to date.Its portfolio includes working on the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Battersea Power Station in London and Adare Manor in Limerick.When contacted for comment on the donation he received from the Errigal Group, Mr Swann said the donation was initially registered on his records as having come from the “Errigal Group” by mistake.The South Antrim MP said this was an “administration error” and the donation should have been registered as having been made by Errigal Contracts Limited.However, Errigal Contracts Limited is part of the overall Errigal Group, so the donation would still have come from the same source.Mr Swann said the register of interests had been amended and the next publication would show the “correction”.The Errigal Group was also contacted and asked why it had decided to make the donation to Mr Swann. However, the company did not make any comment.Mr Swann’s victory in South Antrim in the recent election saw the UUP win a seat at Westminster for the first time since 2015.At one stage, the party held 10 of the 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland.However, the last decade has been a turbulent one for the UUP, with the party leadership set to change for the fifth time during that period.Mr Swann, who stepped down as MLA for North Antrim following his success in the Westminster election, was leader of the UUP from 2017 to 2019.He was widely praised for his work as health minister at the Northern Ireland Assembly during the Covid pandemic.Mr Swann’s predecessor as UUP leader, Mike Nesbitt, ran the party from 2012 to 2017.Steve Aiken was in charge from 2019 to 2021. He was succeeded by Doug Beattie, who announced he was stepping down from the role, citing “irreconcilable differences” with party officers.Nominations to become the next leader of the UUP closed on Friday, with Mike Nesbitt the only candidate to put his name forward.The new leader is set to be ratified at an extraordinary meeting later this month.If, as expected, Mr Nesbitt is selected, he will be the first person to have twice held the top job in the UUP.He is currently the Assembly member for Strangford, and in June he was appointed as Stormont’s Health Minister, a role he is expected to retain.
