Blatant Lies and deception: No legal threats made during 'golden handshake' talks

Dannyboy83

Taoiseach Brian Cowen admitted today that former director-general of Fás Rody Molloy did not threaten legal action during discussions which led to him being given a €1million 'golden handshake.'
Speaking on RTÉ's This Week programme this afternoon, Mr Cowen defended the payments to Mr Molloy, saying that the severance package was in accordance with legislation and guidelines. He stressed that he played no part in negotiations over the final package that was agreed upon.
"The situation as I understand it is that the overall package was offered on the basis that it would be the agreed way by which he would leave the organisation quickly...the question of the threatened legal action, that's a matter...which could have emerged subsequently if there wasn't an agreement," said Mr Cowen.
"My position on this is that it was done on the basis of the best interests of the organisation," he added..
At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee earlier this week, it was revealed that a decision was taken to award a generous severance package to Mr Molloy. The former director general’s length of service was increased by an extra four-and-a-half nominal years, which increased the size of his lump sum payment by approximately €50,000 and his annual pension by about €11,000 per annum.
The actuarial total cost of the deal, on a presumption that Mr Molloy lived for another 30 years, was €1 million. No legal advice was sought before the decision was agreed. Tánaiste and Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment, Mary Coughlan has since been in contact with the Attorney General and ordered a review into the terms of the deal.
It has previously been alleged that the decision to award the so-called 'golden handshake' was taken after Mr Molloy threatened to take legal action during discussions over his severance package.
Speaking yesterday, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern insisted that the pension deal was done 'for the benefit of taxpayers.'
"As always in these situations where you're negotiating...you obviously have to take what's in the best interests of the taxpayer and if it was a case that this man went to court subsequently, and even might still go to court, you would have a protracted High Court action, possibly a Supreme Court action, which would cost the taxpayer much more money," said Mr Ahern.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny today criticised the Government's handling of the controversy and said that he would have fired Mr Molloy.
Speaking during a Lisbon referendum canvass on Dun Laoghaire Pier today Mr Kenny accused the Government of “hiding behind the process” involved in awarding a €1 million 'golden handshake' to Mr Molloy to induce him to resign.
Mr Kenny said “in view of the incompetence of the former director general of Fas, I would have sacked him and I would have allowed the law to take its course”.
Separately, the Labour Party called on the Taoiseach to specify the guidelines under which the additional payments were made.
"Originally we were told that the increased payments were made under the terms of the Labour Services Act of 1987, which established Fás. Now we are being told that they were in accordance with unspecified ‘guidelines,’ said Roisin Shortall, a member of the Public Accounts Committee.
"Mr. Cowen in his interview today also referred to these guidelines, but we have never been told exactly what these guidelines are," she adde

We are now being blatantly lied to by this government.
It appears that Golden Handshakes are formal Fianna Fail procedure.
I don't really know where to start.................we are going to have to become violent before this disgusting thieves will clear off.
Fianna Fail should be disbanded and outlawed in Ireland.

Overheal

Why jump to violence?

You could start by standing up to them and telling them No. Works for the French: its like a national passtime.

Maybe they just have high standards or intolerance. i dunno.

March 31, 2006

As a French national currently visiting the United States, I am amazed at the lack of American media's understanding of the protests going in France right now over the new labor law. The new law which turns younger French workers into Kleenex workers, easily disposable at the whim of the employer, has resulted in massive protests.

Reading the mainstream media outlets, one would believe that apart from burning cars and rioting, the French are very boring, and merely interested in the guarantee of a lifetime employment. They are not modern and forward looking as they strive to maintain an archaic and economically unsustainable social model in today's world. It is beyond their comprehension that the removal of workers rights is the solution for reducing unemployment in the country.

In an editorial, "France's Misguided Protesters," dated March 27, 2006, the New York Times hails the new law as a partial answer to "sons of North African immigrants," greatly affected by unemployment, who rioted in the suburbs last November. The editorial would have the readers believe that the current movement is a selfish move by privileged university students who are blind to the necessity of reforming labor laws and are solely driven by the "knee jerk defense of the job security" that the French hold sacred.

The New York Times editorial is an example of American media's misleading coverage of the issue and demonstrates its poor understanding of the movement. First of all, a quick look at TV screens demonstrates how ethnically diverse the crowds are. The massive numbers of protesters, estimated to be around 3 million, who took to the streets of France on Tuesday, March 28, 2006, highlight the broad base of the movement which includes large numbers from the low-income population living in the suburbs of the French cities. The protesters are not only university students, but also high school students, whether they are located in the rural areas of France or suburbs of Paris. As a matter of fact, the privileged white and upper class students constitute the very marginal student support for the new labor law. Last week, a few hundred students from some Parisian business schools rallied against the protests in Paris.

I bet that many Americans are shocked by the current events in France, including students on strike and street riots. As a French national, I am shocked daily by what I witness in the United States: men above 70 unloading pallets in supermarkets, minors under 14 working in Walmart's plants - no, Third World countries do not have a monopoly on child labor. I am shocked to see the number of homeless families in California, a State, which was formerly the Golden State of the American Dream in my French mind. I am shocked by the permanent insecurity of a population living without job security, health insurance, pensions, and other basic human rights.

Yet, docilely tolerating these conditions has not put American workers in a better position. It did not prevent General Motors from laying off hundreds of white-collar workers this week, as it starts its restructuring plan that would reduce the number of salaried and contract workers in the U.S. by 7 percent this year, an acceleration from the usual 5.5 percent reduction over the last 10 years. Nor does it enable the US textile industry to compete with China. And neither has this averted the US national debt which exceeds $8 trillion or address the country's trade deficit of an all-time record level of $900 billion. Those, like Mr Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister, who uphold the US model, overlook the fact that despite the extreme precariousness of the working force in the US, the country is loosing the race to the bottom . Yes, America can boast of 8.9 million households who have a net worth of $1 million or more, but more than 36 million Americans are living in poverty and 45 million have no medical insurance.

Workers in the streets of France are not dreaming of becoming millionaires or of lifetime jobs. Current struggle in France is not some idealistic fantasy. It is grounded in international treaties and agreements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its accompanying covenants. The demonstrators in France are refusing to be a disposable work force, subject to the fluctuations of stock markets. This movement is not about the protection of any other privilege than those provided TO ALL by the French social model, which has been designed through decades of social struggle in order to provide workers with job security, decent work conditions, health insurance, pensions and care for the old people. This model is based on equity and solidarity. And lastly, this model is efficient. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reported in September 2005 that France boasts the highest worker productivity per hour among the G7 countries.

Ya got to hand it to the frogs, they know what they want and they stand up and demand it.

Sir Oxman

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0927/thisweek_av.html

There's the link - about 7mins in - this should be linked widely.

peasant

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

We are now being blatantly lied to by this government.

now?

This is just the most current bit of "information" that had to be "corrected"

Dannyboy83

peasant wrote: »

now?

This is just the most current bit of "information" that had to be "corrected"

Indeed.
This is an unprecedented low however.

I wonder, is Mr.Molloy now entitled to take legal action against Coughlan/Cowen, given that they falsely suggested he extorted money from them?
Slander/villification?

P. Breathnach

To be fair, Cowen said that he understood that Rody Molloy was "reserving his position". That is legalese for saying that Molloy was holding the possibility of legal action open, and communicating that as part of his negotiating position. There was an implied, rather than express, threat of legal action.