Re: Rogues
Here's some enlightment from Ireland on Sunday:
Fury as ministers hand out 60 posts in their last three days
JOBS FOR THE BOYS
Three outgoing government ministers filled 60 plum State jobs in their final three days in office in a breathtaking display of political opportunism.
The brazen cronyism flies in the face of repeated declarations of the need for political probity by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tanaiste Mary Harney.
It provoked an immediate storm of criticism from an outranged Opposition who accused the guilty ministers of nepotism of the highest order and perpetuating the 'jobs for the boys' culture.........Some of the jobs gifted are worth in the region of €12,700 a year before expenses. In other cases, the stipend and expenses have yet to be declared.
Among them are economist and journalist David McWilliams; a former chairman of the Competition Authority, Paddy Lyons; and Sunday Business Post journalist Aileen Power, who have all been appointed to the Financial Services Ombudsman Council.
According to a spokesman for the Department of Finance, the cost of paying the new financial services bodies members cannot be estimated at this juncture as they are new.
But new Finance Minister Brian Cowen may or may not be grateful for his predecessor's legacy, Government sources said.
"At first glace, it seems like a good idea to bring all this expertise together," one source said.
"But sometimes you can have too much advice and there will be a lot of conflicting interests banging their heads off each other, rather than putting them together.
"if it's such a bright idea, how come one of our brightest, McCreevy, did not come up with it during his seven years in Finance?" he asked.