Fàs involved in ridiculous spending up to €5.7m - €900 on golf, €400 on beau

turgon

The Irish Examiner reported this morning that the bosses of Fas were invoved in some outragous spending. The total travel bill for the year was 5.7 million I think. What is baffaling is the stuff this money was spent on. 900 euro was spent for the boss to go play golf. His wife charged Fas 400 euro for a manicure. All the trips around the place are first class too, which seems to be unneccasary excess.

No doubt this is a disgrace, and thos who abused the system should be removed of their responsibilities. It would be nice as well if they were charged for all the unneccasary stuff.

In the wider scheme of things one has to consider how much waste is going on in other places of the government. Especcially in the time of reccession, but also at all times, this waste has to be curbed. Was not that vaccine program going to cost 10-12 million?? How about cutting Fàs' out of control spending, shouldnt take long to find the required finance to save peoples lives.

CCCP^

It's fecking endemic. This country has seen some absolutely mindless waste of resources in the past few years, it's sickening. What was it, 500 million on a stadium that was never built? How much was spent on those E-voting machines? I'd really like to see head's roll.

meglome

CCCP^ wrote: »

500 million on a stadium that was never built?

Em I think that may be wrong, it didn't even cost that to build croke park.

xOxSinéadxOx

and he described the money he that he spent on films in the hotels as chicken feed or something to that effect. If he thinks it's chicken feed then why didn't he pay for it himself the greedy bastard. I know it was only about $20 or something but the fact that he expects us to pay for it is ridiculous and paying for his wife to go on all his 'business' trips! his attitude is just all wrong :mad:

Tipsy Mac

€908 tip, nice spend of my taxes, you scum...

Fas held a €200-a-head dinner for 33 people in Dublin's five star Merrion Hotel in June 2006. They took a private room.

The total bill fell just short of seven grand (€6,962) but the wine bill came to a stunning €1,724, mostly featuring a cheeky little Cabernet Sauvignon at €48 a bottle. The room cost €550 to hire. The generous FAS top brass even gave tips -- courtesy of the taxpayer -- of just short of a grand (€908).

silverharp

I have to deal with them at work and they are clowns, they waste untold amounts of money on consultants because god forbid anyone actually had to make a decision, and their structure is dysfuntional they dont even obey their own rules and regulations, you are always at the whim of some little upstart in their regional offices.
the gov. should think about cutting their budgets before raising taxes

old boy

silverharp wrote: »

I have to deal with them at work and they are clowns, they waste untold amounts of money on consultants because god forbid anyone actually had to make a decision, and their structure is dysfuntional they dont even obey their own rules and regulations, you are always at the whim of some little upstart in their regional offices.
the gov. should think about cutting their budgets before raising taxes

cut them as fast as possible egotistic arragont S.O.Bs

murfie

FÁS Director General Rody Molloy has just handed in his resignation! Looks like this story has unleashed more than we know about. From defending the spending to stepping down in one day!

trishasaffron

murfie wrote: »

FÁS Director General Rody Molloy has just handed in his resignation! Looks like this story has unleashed more than we know about. From defending the spending to stepping down in one day!

Hey where did you see that ? Can't find a reference anywhere

Frankie Lee

Surely there is some way the state can sue him over the misappropriation of funds.

I have a strong feeling there is more to this case than meets the eye.

tallus

It was just on RTE news

Aidric

trishasaffron wrote: »

Hey where did you see that ? Can't find a reference anywhere

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1125/fas.html

ateam

Obviously pushed. If you listen to his interview with Pat Kenny on Monday morning, he didn't seem to think the expenses was even an issue.

Delighted he has been sacked. Disgrace the amount of money spent on expenses. The whole board should be sacked.

Frankie Lee

There needs to be a full investigation and people need to be strung out by the balls, but what worries me is that there is a lot of right wing vultures circling fas who will use this opportunity to call for privatisation.

spadder

Why did Cowen back this idiot yesterday? Malloy's performance on Pat Kenny was up there with P.Flynn. Cmon Cowen explain yourself now.

Frankie Lee

FF and the leadership of FAS are linked apparently hence the reason FG have been barking about this for the past year as soon as they smelt a rat.

Thats my theory anyway.

eigrod

Frankie Lee wrote: »

FF and the leadership of FAS are linked apparently hence the reason FG have been barking about this for the past year as soon as they smelt a rat.

Thats my theory anyway.

Roddy Molloy is from Offaly also.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

silverharp

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

well they both have their fair share of space cadets!

Nodin

Well, whatever about that, it appears the Space Commander has opted to head for the escape pod.

The Director General of FÁS, Rody Molloy, has resigned.
The announcement was made shortly before 11pm by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan.
In her statement she thanked Mr Molloy for his many years of public service both in the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment and for the past eight years as Director General of FÁS.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1125/fas.html

eoin5

Nodin wrote: »

Well, whatever about that, it appears the Space Commander has opted to head for the escape pod.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1125/fas.html

Tis a pity we cant get him to pay some of it back though.

markpb

Don't worry, in a few weeks when the fuss has died down he'll be silently slipped back into a new cushy government job, possibly An Board Snip or something ironic like that.

ednwireland

could someone explain why he's not being hauled over the coals by the public accounts committee, he's still responsible for sanctioning the spending of that money just cos he's resigned doesn't mean he's off the hook (well it does because he's a political appointment ) i really hope the do him for misapropriation of public money in a criminal court ( and the rest of them), but i doubt it
why was he flying first class ffs reckon thats the thin end of the wedge thers more dodgy dealings going on that we'll probably never hear of now.

mike65

He should still go before the committee. Good to see the Greens are as inept as ever, issuing a statement of support only 5 hours before he walked.

Mike

Fratton Fred

FAS has a budget of €1bn per year. that is an incredible amount of money considering unemployment has been so low up until recently.

They spend €55,000 a year membership fees of IBEC, why? they spend a fortune with IBEC on consulting, why?

They also have several IBEC directors as board memebrs, all of whom earn €14k per year to attend a few board meetings. They pay the head of the Trade Unions €24k per year as chairman.

The trouble is, they will make cuts, but it is the poor sods at the coalface who will get hit, none of these fat cats.

markpb

Fratton Fred wrote: »

They also have several IBEC directors as board memebrs, all of whom earn €14k per year to attend a few board meetings. They pay the head of the Trade Unions €24k per year as chairman. The trouble is, they will make cuts, but it is the poor sods at the coalface who will get hit, none of these fat cats.

There was an article in a paper recently (can't remember which one, sorry) which suggested that giving SIPTU and IBEC leaders well-paid state appointments was an idea by Bertie the fixer to make them more amenable to the national pay deals.

spadder

Dan Boyle now on the radio defending Brian cowen's decision to back Malloy.

Gimps the lot of them, I am sick to my back teeth with this government.
They should be shoved up a dead dogs hole and burned in their quango buddies incinerators

turgon

spadder wrote: »

Dan Boyle now on the radio defending Brian cowen's decision to back Malloy.

Just another reason to dismiss Greena Fàil.

The_Minister

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

NASA are involved in a good deal of scientific research as well, and provide many lucrative contracts to science companies around the world. There are loads of good reasons to have links with NASA.

What isn't really acceptable is flying first class everywhere.

spadder

What about the european space agency? should we not be selling our guaranteed irish spacecraft there?

jmayo

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Ah but sure he traded in the first class tickets for two business class tickets so the wife could over for a manicure.
Since we paid for it, under Freedom of Information act we should be told if the films he watched in his hotel room involved Debbie from Dallas or maybe Mary from Rhode.

ednwireland wrote: »

could someone explain why he's not being hauled over the coals by the public accounts committee, he's still responsible for sanctioning the spending of that money just cos he's resigned doesn't mean he's off the hook (well it does because he's a political appointment ) i really hope the do him for misapropriation of public money in a criminal court ( and the rest of them), but i doubt it
why was he flying first class ffs reckon thats the thin end of the wedge thers more dodgy dealings going on that we'll probably never hear of now.

Because Fás have treated the public accounts committee with pure contempt. Acording to Allen they had to push for information, then they were handed blacked out documents and then the lawyers have claimed that they do not legally have to disclose some of their accounts.
Obviously the top secret agreements between Fás, the NSA and NASA must be protected from public disclosure :rolleyes:

Bernard Allen has stated that Molloy was not there in personal capacity but as executive of Fás and that other executives will have the same questions to answer.
Also he said that he regretted Molloy will not now be going in front of the committee tomorrow.
Of course Molloy should be billed by Comptroller and Auditor General for any expenses deemed unneccessary.
It would set a nice precedent and teach the other fat cats a lesson.

I believe there have been upto 60 investigations running within or outside Fás about their accounting/spending.

Fratton Fred

jmayo wrote: »

I believe there have been upto 60 investigations running within or outside Fás about their accounting/spending.

great, that means another multi mollion euro public enquiry.:rolleyes:

i wonder what molloy's payoff was as well, because i am sure there will be one, after all, he was doing a good job which is why he got a €34k bonus recently.

merrionsq

meglome wrote: »

Em I think that may be wrong, it didn't even cost that to build croke park.

Sorry for going off topic, but I think you are wrong. This article from 2002 lists the cost: The aborted projected has cost the Irish taxpayer half a billion euros (£315 million). "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/sep/15/footballinireland.ireland
Probably cost more as they wound-down the project and paid-off everyone who was contracted to do various jobs (PR, consultancy, etc). Had to respond as too many people are still willing to defend this sort of thing.

In relation to FAS, it (and AnCo) were originally created to re-train unemployed people. They should have stuck to their core purpose, and reduced their operations during the boom when jobs were plentiful. They may be useful again, but not in its obviously bloated gravy-train current state.

Two quotes from the news:

The Director General of FÁS, Rody Molloy, has resigned.
The announcement was made shortly before 11pm by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan.
In her statement she thanked Mr Molloy for his many years of public service both in the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment and for the past eight years as Director General of FÁS.

Taoiseach Brien Cowen has commended former FÁS Director General Rody Molloy on his decision to step down.
Mr Cowen said he had made a valuable contribution to FÁS and his resignation showed that confidence in him was justified because he had proved himself to be accountable

He was a great man :rolleyes:, looks like he'll get away it, if that were anyone else they would be locked up.
With statements like the two above it just goes to show what type of people we have in government, Brian Cowen and his gang would give the Mafia a run for their money.

The_Minister

hellboy99 wrote: »

looks like he'll get away it, if that were anyone else they would be locked up.

I don't think so. Probably the private company would let it slide and be rid of them, or sue them for the money. i don't think it is actually a criminal matter to abuse expenses AFAIK.

xOxSinéadxOx

the worst bit of it is that yer man thought he was entitled to spend all that money and that there was nothing wrong with it! the attitude is just so wrong

Mental Mickey

eigrod wrote: »

Roddy Molloy is from Offaly also.

They're actually brothers-in-law!

The_Minister

Mental Mickey wrote: »

They're actually brothers-in-law!

It's a rumour going around, but no credible source has confirmed it yet.

sceptre

Mr Cowen said ... his resignation showed that confidence in him was justified because he had proved himself to be accountable

That tosses out a few questions (I don't expect answers from here or, heaven knows, our elected lords and masters):

• Is Cowen of the opinion that Molloy's spending was justified?
• If Cowen is of the opinion that the spending was justified, what other spending is he regarding as justified closer to his own domain?
• Is there no actual oversight in FAS or of FAS as even a cursory glance at expense accounts would have set alarm bells ringing?
• Are they not actually going to look at the idea of reclaiming the money then?
• What sort of safeguards are they going to introduce in FAS (and what kind of safeguards are they going to introduce at government level to govern FAS) to make sure that no-one else pulls this kind of stunt in FAS in the future?
• Is this common practice in other Irish government agencies and quangos?
• Is Cowen actually aware that we'd never have found out about this unless journalists had gone and poked around for the information?
• How does Brian Cowen actually define "accountability"? Is it the same definition Haughey used?

FrankGrimes

sceptre wrote: »

That tosses out a few questions (I don't expect answers from here or, heaven knows, our elected lords and masters):

• Is Cowen of the opinion that Molloy's spending was justified?
• If Cowen is of the opinion that the spending was justified, what other spending is he regarding as justified closer to his own domain?
• Is there no actual oversight in FAS or of FAS as even a cursory glance at expense accounts would have set alarm bells ringing?
• Are they not actually going to look at the idea of reclaiming the money then?
• What sort of safeguards are they going to introduce in FAS (and what kind of safeguards are they going to introduce at government level to govern FAS) to make sure that no-one else pulls this kind of stunt in FAS in the future?
• Is this common practice in other Irish government agencies and quangos?
• Is Cowen actually aware that we'd never have found out about this unless journalists had gone and poked around for the information?
• How does Brian Cowen actually define "accountability"? Is it the same definition Haughey used?

All valid questions and questions that you'd really hope the minority government party would be asking, failing that the opposition should keep demanding answers. Really disappointed with the Greens on this, the backing of this guy by them and Cowen showed a severe lack of judgement and integrity.

I wanted to see this guy get the chop not for expense abuse but for the gross inefficiency of his organisation - I believe I read an article recently that stated that for the €1 billion of taxpayer's money FAS spent last year, they managed to secure jobs for only 4,000 people = €250,000 a pop.

spadder

All the fuss over Harney's hair do, does anyone remember when she was using the air corp as her own taxi service?


"Her idea of depriving almost 500,000 men, women and children in the north west of local cancer services compels any person diagnosed with cancer to travel hundreds of miles. This same minister used an Air Corp helicopter to officiate at the opening of a booze shop in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim; it was too long a journey by car. One must, therefore, assume that Fianna Fail as a political party has no interest in health care in Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo or Roscommon, much less the rest of Ireland."

from:
http://prod.independent.ie/opinion/letters/the-verdict-was-no--accept-it-1484173.html

jmayo

sceptre wrote: »

That tosses out a few questions (I don't expect answers from here or, heaven knows, our elected lords and masters):

• Is Cowen actually aware that we'd never have found out about this unless journalists had gone and poked around for the information?

Why do you think FF have been trying to rein in the Freedom of Information act for the last few years ?
It is an inconvenient little thing that allows the plebs get to see where they are all blowing the money. In this case they literally did blow the money away

Eskimo K

€400 for a Nail Bar?

Is a Nail Bar what shows up on a credit card bill following a trip to a "Massage Parlour"?

turgon

sceptre wrote: »

• Is Cowen of the opinion that Molloy's spending was justified?

Probable not, but if he admits this he will be under presure to chase similer mispending, and punish those indulging is such ridicule.

Darragh29

I think they have the right idea over in Thailand at the moment!

The funniest thing about the FAS spectacle is him trying to justify his wife being shunted over to the US at the taxpayers expense and claiming that he downgraded his "entitlement" to fly first class, to two business class tickets so that the cost of the two business class tickets for himself and his wife "came in at under the single ticket for his first class fare would have cost". Basically he is trying to tell us that by bringing his wife along with him at the taxpayers expense, he is saving the taxpayer money!!!

Best thing we could do with this circus act and his wife is arrange for another taxpayer footed trip to the US but this time when the plane is coming in over the everglades of Florida, open the door and fu*k the two of them out to the crocodiles.

And another 500,000 Euro pay off for the poor man who had to resign "due to someone with a destructive agenda against FAS"...

Honestly, I bet what they are up in arms about over in Thailand doesn't have a scratch on the madness that we are tolerating over here!

Darragh29

I'm wondering has Rody Molloy established such positive links with NASA, that maybe they might be open to obliging us by taking our government ministers on the next lunar mission???

jmayo

Darragh29 wrote: »

I think they have the right idea over in Thailand at the moment!
...
Best thing we could do with this circus act and his wife is arrange for another taxpayer footed trip to the US but this time when the plane is coming in over the everglades of Florida, open the door and fu*k the two of them out to the crocodiles.
...
Honestly, I bet what they are up in arms about over in Thailand doesn't have a scratch on the madness that we are tolerating over here!

They are alligators not crocs, but they can bite just as affectively
Hey I would agree to have a sit in Dublin airport, but nobody would notice as it's already a mess up there :rolleyes:
Besides ministers probably fly out of Baldonnel.

Darragh29 wrote: »

I'm wondering has Rody Molloy established such positive links with NASA, that maybe they might be open to obliging us by taking our government ministers on the next lunar mission???

You would need one hell of big rocket to lift off what with the overweight fat cats we have in the government.
(and before somebody claims again my harney fat jokes are so old and over the hill, so is she )

Anyway space travel is too environmentally unfriendly according to the greens, unless of course it is powered by windmills or bicycles :rolleyes:

Darragh29

Jasus, you couldn't make this sh*t up!!! The Dail Public Accounts Committee, every single member of which has never had to stand over or justify a single expense EVER, paid for in full by the taxpayer, is being told by a senior FAS official that there was a "failure of control" with regard to the management of expenses in the "corporate affairs" area!!!

You have a senior FAS official, admitting that there has been a serious and systematic failure in relation to corporate expenses and the management thereof, to a room full of people who have been claiming expenses for years and not a single one of them has EVER had to produce a receipt for an expense claimed!?!?!?!?!??!

This country has officially gone fu*king MAD!

MeatProduct

Did I hear it right on the radio that €1.7 million was spent on the FAS website? As a part-time web developer I find that figure astounding. How can that be justified? I mean really, that is a staggering amount of money. Is this being followed up? Who got the contract, etc?

Nick

Darragh29

MeatProduct wrote: »

Did I hear it right on the radio that €1.7 million was spent on the FAS website? As a part-time web developer I find that figure astounding. How can that be justified? I mean really, that is a staggering amount of money. Is this being followed up? Who got the contract, etc?

Nick

Surely that had to go out to tender??? I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg, it is hardly just FAS that has been at this. No wonder the country doesn't have a pot to p*ss into, with just under 10K being spent on a single transatlantic flight, $410 on a hair do, a 9K dinner in the Merrion Hotel for 33 people...

Nodin

MeatProduct wrote: »

Did I hear it right on the radio that €1.7 million was spent on the FAS website? As a part-time web developer I find that figure astounding. How can that be justified? I mean really, that is a staggering amount of money. Is this being followed up? Who got the contract, etc?

Nick

May 2008 - The Comptroller and Auditor General publishes his report, which showed there had been a "failure to achieve value for money" with FAS advertising. This included the setting up of a Jobs Ireland website at a cost of €1.7m when it already had a similar website. Around €160,000 in incorrect payments were claimed by advertisers who added on percentages to their bills.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/in-the-spotlight-how-spending-saga-unfolded-1552805.html

It should be pointed out that some matters relating to goings on at FAS are under Garda investigation.....