I assume it was a barracks in his constituency and that he had given a pre-election pledge that it would be kept open.
Fair play to him, nice to see a politician sticking to his promises/principals. I believe he topped the poll in the country or at least came second? Has a reputation for being honest.
Ogra Fianna Fail can go fuck themselves. Get a life FFS.
I see Simon Coveney has also secured a pay packet for his advisor above the Government imposed limit of €92,000.
He’s now the 6th minister to breach the cap.
http://www.herald.ie/news/fury-as-coveney-flouts-rules-to-pay-spin-doctor-110k-3038697.html
By Niall O’Connor, Exclusive
Saturday March 03 2012
ANOTHER Government minister has handed his spin doctor a six-figure paycheck.
Simon Coveney has become the sixth Cabinet member to breach the Government’s own rules in securing a staggering pay deal for his special adviser.
It has emerged today that the Agriculture Minister fought to award an extraordinary €110,000 salary to qualified dental surgeon Ross Mac Mathuna.
And the Herald has learned that this is the second time in the space of months that the Fine Gael politician has shunned the country’s financial woes in awarding extra perks to advisers.
Six senior ministers have now broken the rules and awarded salaries above the €92,600 Government-imposed limit.
This means the taxpayer is forking out more than €681,000 per year for the six special aides alone.
The news has sparked outrage today, with one independent TD describing the awarding of the pay deals as a “betrayal”.
And it is yet another indication that ministers are ignoring their own set of rules in order to please their closest aides.
The Herald can reveal that it is the second time in just a few months that Mr Coveney breached the pay cap for one of his aides.
His former adviser Fergal Leamy was on €130,000 but quit after just five months.
He was replaced by Mr Mac Mathuna.
Having breached the pay cap when appointing Mr Leamy, the minister repeated the move just months later when Mr Mac Mathuna was installed.
The agriculture expert was installed in January, having previously worked for Glanbia and consultancy firm McKinsey.
A spokesperson for Mr Coveney today said that the two men’s experience justified the move.
"The Guidelines on Staffing of Ministerial Offices provide that Special Advisers be placed on the first point of the Principal Officer scale except where the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance, sanctions a higher salary rate.
“Given Mr Mac Mathuna’s previous salary and experience in the agri food industry, remuneration at a higher rate was approved. Similar circumstances applied in Mr Leamy’s case.”
The controversy surrounding advisers’ salaries surfaced late last year when it emerged the Taoiseach intervened to secure a €127,000 pay deal for his close friend Ciaran Conlon.
Mr Conlon, adviser to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, was handed a 37pc pay hike in March – just days after Enda Kenny promised to end the ‘jobs for the boys’ era.
And despite being charged with not looking after the country’s most vulnerable, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton fought for a €127,796 package for her aide, Ed Brophy – €35,000 more than the Government pay cap.
Six senior ministers have now broken the rules, including Leo Varadkar and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin. Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte also breached the pay cap in securing a €97,200 salary for former Travel Agents boss Simon Nugent.
The news that almost half the Cabinet have breached the pay cap sparked outrage among the opposition today.
Independent TD for Waterford John Halligan said it marked a “betrayal” of the Irish people.
"These ministers have one rule for themselves and one rule for everybody else. What would happen if the opposition turned round and wanted to hike the salaries of their secretaries, they’d be told where to go.
“It’s a national scandal. To think the pay deals were secured as ministers were looking at ways to cut welfare and other services is nothing short of sickening.”
The horror!
‘Fine Gael will reduce the voting age to 17 and give eligible citizens the right to vote at Irish embassies in the Presidential election.’ - FG Manifesto 2011 :lol:
Never happened obviously.
What do these advisers do? To get one of those jobs seems the ultimate. Great pay, ability to affect Govt policy and without any accountability or responsibility.
They rowed back on their plan for a party this morning :lol:
Katie’s gym has no toilet or shower
But Taoiseach’s constituency gets €678,000 in sports grants
By JEROME REILLY and JOYCE FEGAN
Sunday May 27 2012
World champ Katie Taylor has been training in a gym that doesn’t have a toilet or shower, while many look on in awe at government cash flowing into Mayo – the political heartland of Enda Kenny[/url] and Sports Minister [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Michael_Ring”]Michael Ring.
The Taoiseach was left red-faced when he visited Bray boxing club where Katie and fellow boxing olympian Garda Adam Nolan have to dash off to the nearby Harbour Bar if they want to spend a penny.
Katie’s father Peter, who also trains Gda Nolan, said: “I think the Taoiseach was very shocked and maybe a bit ashamed when he saw it. He told me to put in an application for the club under the next round of sports grants and he would make sure it would be looked after.”
The Mayo constituency was a big recipient of Lottery-funded capital sports grants getting €678,000 last year.
The allocation for Mayo was twice the allocation given to Dublin, and Mayo moved from ninth to fourth in the Lotto grants league table based on grant aid per head of population.
Mr Ring’s political power base of Westport received three Lotto grants totalling €230,000.
- JEROME REILLY and JOYCE FEGAN
[quote=“SHANNONSIDER, post: 585313”] Katie’s gym has no toilet or shower
But Taoiseach’s constituency gets €678,000 in sports grants
By JEROME REILLY and JOYCE FEGAN
Sunday May 27 2012
World champ Katie Taylor has been training in a gym that doesn’t have a toilet or shower, while many look on in awe at government cash flowing into Mayo – the political heartland of Enda Kenny[/url] and Sports Minister [url=“http://searchtopics.independent.ie/topic/Michael_Ring”]Michael Ring.
The Taoiseach was left red-faced when he visited Bray boxing club where Katie and fellow boxing olympian Garda Adam Nolan have to dash off to the nearby Harbour Bar if they want to spend a penny.
Katie’s father Peter, who also trains Gda Nolan, said: “I think the Taoiseach was very shocked and maybe a bit ashamed when he saw it. He told me to put in an application for the club under the next round of sports grants and he would make sure it would be looked after.”
The Mayo constituency was a big recipient of Lottery-funded capital sports grants getting €678,000 last year.
The allocation for Mayo was twice the allocation given to Dublin, and Mayo moved from ninth to fourth in the Lotto grants league table based on grant aid per head of population.
Mr Ring’s political power base of Westport received three Lotto grants totalling €230,000.
- JEROME REILLY and JOYCE FEGAN[/quote]
Varadker was on the radio this morning and was rightly pissed off about that. He claimed that the gym applied for and received €25,000 last year to build showers and toilets at the gym. They have now applied for another grant to rebuild the entire gym. They’ll probably get it too if Katie wins a gold medal.
This isn’t at all the right thread to talk about James Reilly’s current difficulties but can’t be arsed finding a more approriate one or starting a new thread.
Hope this is the beginning of the end for him, though that’s unlikely. The excuses so far are pretty pathetic though - the issue about power of attorney etc is a complete misdirection. He is the one in breach of a High Court order, not a solicitor. And it’s nothing to do with the Standards in Public Office guidelines either. That’s about management of the company (and there’s a separate issue there about whether it’s appropriate for our Minister for Health to be so financially invested in private healthcare) and nothing at all to do with complying with High Court orders.
It’s equally satisfying to see Friend of the Tribunals Anne Devitt involved too.
Why don’t like James Reilly Rocko?
I thought he would have been one of the more capable ministers and definitely the most pro-active Minister for Health in a long time. I’m easily fooled by bluster and bluff though.
i heard he was a drunk
All the man seems to be in the headlines for is trying to put the number of calories on food menus.The health service is an abomination and is similar to a third world country.And it is only getting progressively worse.Meanwhile our top consultants and GP’s are earning 5/6 times their British counterparts.
Fine Gael are really just a continuation of Fianna Fail.Adam Claytons PA gets sent down for 7 years.Which whatever way you look at it is pretty draconian.A garlic grower who was paying tax albeit at a lower rate got time as well. How come the Quinns are still at large,Fitzpatrick,Fingleton,Bertie?
Enda Kenny makes me want to punch something every time I hear him “debating” in the Dail.
He has the same couple of stilted one-liners he throws out when questioned on anything by opposition. He was at it again yesterday when being questioned by Gerry Adams about James Reilly, and he threw back his stock reference to the northern bank raid. He’s an imbecile.
He’s all bluster and buff.
The man is incapable of entering into a sensible debate on anything. It’s not unique to Ireland, this seems to be the new style of politican, but his lack of opinion on anything topical is excrutiating. He can’t debate with politicians or with journalists so just reads prepared statements, supports his ministers without adding any insight on any topic and reacts childishly to any cross-examination.
Well said. Any point made by a Sinn Féin representative is met with a line about Northern Bank or the IRA. Anything to avoid debating an issue.
He sometimes hilariously referes to Gerry Adams as Grizzly Adams.
I see James Reilly will be making his statement to the Dail at 9:55 tonight :rolleyes: