Despite a Fine Gael pledge to end cronyism, Training and Skills Minister Ciaran Cannon has hired his wife as his secretary and his brother-in-law as one of his drivers.
The job of personal secretary to the minister, held by Mr Cannon's wife Niamh Lawless, comes with a salary of between ¿23,000 and ¿47,000.
The civilian driver's post comes with a ¿35,000 salary, and junior ministers are allowed to hire two drivers each. Mr Cannon did not return calls, but during the election campaign he said Fine Gael would "fix our political system and sweep away the culture of cronyism".
And junior agriculture minister Shane McEntee's daughter and sister are job-sharing his personal assistant post, splitting the ¿44,000 salary between them, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Kerry North's Arthur Spring -- who worked as a parliamentary assistant for his uncle Dick -- has now hired his brother Graham as his own parliamentary assistant, a post with a salary of between €41,000 and €52,000.
The Fine Gael ministerial pair are among a number of ministers who employ family members -- Labour's Kathleen Lynch, a junior health minister, employs her husband Bernard as her personal assistant; junior enterprise minister Sean Sherlock's sister works in his office; and super-junior minister Willie Penrose employs his brother, Johnny.
> Fine Gael Waterford TD Paudie Coffey, whose wife Suzanne is his part-time secretarial assistant.
> Fine Gael Louth TD and county football manager Peter Fitzpatrick, whose daughter Grace is his secretarial assistant, a position that comes with a salary of around €23,000.
> Fianna Fail Laois-Offaly TD Sean Fleming employs his wife Mary as his part-time parliamentary assistant.
> Independent TD Mattie McGrath has his daughter Triona and niece Kathy sharing the job of his parliamentary assistant.
There was acute embarrassment within Fine Gael when the Irish Independent previously revealed that Kerry South TD Brendan Griffin -- who had promised during the election campaign to give up half his salary -- hired his wife Roisin as his secretarial assistant, his cousin Tommy Griffin as his parliamentary assistant and helped another cousin, Matt Griffin, get his old council seat.
Another TD, Dublin North's Alan Farrell, also caused embarrassment when he hired his wife Emma Doyle as a parliamentary assistant, although he later claimed that this was a temporary appointment.
ps Fine Gael never reply to emails
Can you give us a link to that info,so we can all bring it to their attention..
Have to completely disagree re Fine Gael never replying to emails.
Anytime I have emailed them,I have got a reply.
ps Fine Gael never reply to emails
Can you give us a link to that info,so we can all bring it to their attention..
Have to completely disagree re Fine Gael never replying to emails.
Anytime I have emailed them,I have got a reply.
Whoa...Chill out there RonanC, It is NOT MY title,perhaps look at who the OP is for clarity!thedaras,
do you want to explain what Bertie Ahern is meant to have done?
Also, your title is all over the place and there is no cronyism involved here. If anything it is nepotism.
I have no issue with a TD hiring a family member to work as their personal assistant as long as the salary and expenses are fully accounted for. Ministers of State would have Private Secretaries who would go through a Public Service competition for the position, but each TD is allowed hire additional personal assistants who work very closely with them at all hours of the day. Would you fancy doing that?
Whoa...Chill out there RonanC, It is NOT MY title,perhaps look at who the OP is for clarity!
I dont recall mentioning either cronyism nor nepotism.
I would like people to have the opportunity to apply for the position,if they wished to do so.
Point is this hasnt done us any favours in the past,so why do you think things will get better if it stays this way?
And here is the link to Joan Collins talking about Bertie;
[broken link removed]
Pot and kettle come to mind..by the way it would be interesting to hear how they manage,when or if they dont have a family member who can take up the position.
Sorry thedaras, long day.... head all over the place and read the post arseways
This is a double-edged sword. If they are to be vouched, then we're paying for somebody to check each receipt and make sure that they're not trying to sneak in a sneaky pint etc. With a fixed rate or amount, you eliminate the need for all the checking, and leave it up to person themselves to find good value for their own money.I think expenses should be 100% vouched, compulsory.
@ronan c
Its cronyism not nepotism, look it up. I missed out the " in the heading" it was the link from the indo.
Anyway we wont fight but I happened to watch Enda during the week explain some changes to manpower figures " I had 189 in my depatment its now 163, ..... 26 transferred to some other depart. " Now if all the TD's and ministers they can end up with fantastic end of year manpower figures. I wish I was the HR guru, would never miss a target.
Enda losses = actual losses, not transfers.
Oh well nice to know election was a total and utter waste of money as usual.
noah