Following on from
this thread
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I'd forgotten about that Contribution from Peter Mc Verry and it really puts into context the expenses debacle and indeed many other home truths.
Mc Verry also made a contribution to last Saturday with Katie Hannon show, generally discussion on Housing (lack of ) and rightly, the Ukrainian refugee crisis. (BEFORE THE KNEE JERK REACTIONS COMMENCE) I welcome any and all support but would like the hypocrisy to end , every refugee should be treated equally.
So Peter asked is opinion on the Government's Housing policy generally to include all the governments recent promises, his response, !!
"Not a Hope in Hell is it achievable " , he's a man who should know.
Of course not!! He's an ex-Fine Gael TD. They invented New Politics.
Leo asked him nicely to pay the expenses back but he ignored Leo and the taxpayer. Fine Gael cannot control their own elected members. FF cannot control public servants.
...
A letter printed in The Irish Times by Father Peter McVerry at the time...
The letter reads:
“I attended court with a young homeless boy who had been charged with theft of a bottle of orange, value €1.
“Another homeless man was charged with theft of four bars of chocolate, value €3.
“Another homeless man was charged with theft of two packets of Silk Cut cigarettes.
“A TD, on his way to, or from, his full-time, very well paid job in Brussels, stops by at Dáil Éireann to sign in, so that he can collect his full €51,600 expenses for his attendance in the Dáil.”
Leo did promise to overhaul the expense system which he said was lax and open to abuse (i.e. theft).
I am sure that expense reform is gathering pace! It will be shelved because as me know, reform is not required in local or national government.
Siteserve anyone?
Hopes dashed 😁
Stephen Donnelly was clearly blindsided originally, but was then fully aware of the Shenanigans by Wednesday, let's not forget he made an eejit of himself on national radio already, on the matter .
You'd think he'd just shut up or at a minimum be extremely careful with any written replies to Dail Questions.
But no, he went head first into a Hole he Dug before the written reply.
There's also new reporting in the Irish Times, following on from a brutal article yesterday detailing the contempt shown towards Donnelly by everyone's favourite most senior civil Servant.
In essence, Watts it appears has known for 6 months of Tonys intentions to move to world academia. I said previously Holohan had essentially lost interest, wasn't particularly happy and has been relatively silent since December.
Has Darragh Murphy returned the expenses he claimed when he was double jobbing?
Oh look a squirrel
They're hoping everyone forgets about it over the weekend.
This will end up like the Zappone makey up job. It won't be filled and the government will be hoping that in a years time we will forget about it.
Surely this is a case to reopen debate as regards limiting civil service pay to 100K per annum
We're paying top dollar and not getting value for money,havnt with years if ever
no mind the questions this should arise regarding complience and corporate goverence within civil service
The worst going that might happen Watt is an early retirement with a bonus on top of a massive pension. Then he'll away to the private sector, laughing.
As predicted, covid is being brought back to distract us. They're setting up NPHET lite and our man Tony is at the helm. Just announced this afternoon. I'm quite sure this is an extra earner above the CMO salary.
Oh if only.
Gulags nice this time of year I hear 😁
No doubt Watt and Holohan are up to their necks in this together. Holohan probably thought after covid he could do anything he likes and no there would comeback after all to many he was a "hero". As for Watt well he was out of control as soon as he got the Sec Gen position. He should be removed now and either sent to Europe or retired.
Yes as much as I hate to admit it, Politicians appear to be in the clear here but will they now reign in Watt, I'm sceptical to be honest and I still maintain Holohan up to his neck in this. Someone started this shenanigans and I suspect it was Holohan dropping hints etc .
Watt and Holohan work for the government and us. If they took their eye of the ball and a civil servant has gone rogue and they allowed this happen therefore the buck stops with them ultimately.
In fairness the politicians have no hand, act or part in this except for letting Watt get out of control. Unlike the Zappone fiasco which was all Coveney, the blame for this is with Watt and Holohan. Now if the politicians try to whitewash it by saying no procedures were broken then they are opening themselves up to more crony and corruption allegations.
Read between the lines, he knows they have been caught bang to rights.
No, I think he's so flustered over this, he's treading carefully but he did expand a little on RTE ,
"We need to check proper procedures were followed, I'm sure they were "
, WTF is that about , the procedure followed stinks to high heaven , we need to check proper procedure was followed my arse.
'The fella put in charge because of policies we put in place and support, is out of order but its nothing to do with any elected ministers. We're only morto'.
Did he say 'lessons must be learned'?
O but of course but Ironically Politicians clearly kept out of the loop on this latest debacle, he actually said, Donnelly called him about the professorship, they both assumed that's good for Tony, until days later the shyte started to flow and the details of what was actually being proposed came out. I knew when I heard Donnellys disastrous Radio interview, he hadn't a clue what was going on.
I'm getting a sense Politicians lining up to Bury Watt but in reality they are utterly powerless, but they can, I presume stop the secondment and my word a bitter Holohan would be a nightmare.
A real mess
Don't tell me Varadkar has joined the "permanently outraged"? 😀
Main News item on VM news, Leo says no one in government happy, we're supposed to be the ones in charge 😏
Second story, front line workers furious over delay in paying pandemic bonus.
The Irony of it all
If Watt was reading this thread, I know who he would be laughing at.
The only thing they can do with Watt is ship him off to you Europe. If I remember correctly they did it before with one of the civil servants in the department of finance during the recession.
Yes, says it all really . Will Donnelly grow a set over the weekend 🤔, I doubt it but someone needs to reign in Watt .
And there in lies the crux of the problem, Government Minister having to tip toe around a civil servant
No really surprising.
Probably a bit unfair on Donnelly as he is the minister that has to work with Watt, after all it wasn't him that let Watt appoint himself as Sec Gen of the DOH and give himself an 80k payrise. When Watt got away with that there was going to be no controlling him. I wonder if they try to move him off somewhere else, usually to Europe.
If you let a dog eat off the table without it costing the dog anything he is going to keep doing it.
Same logic applies here. There was no penalty for the Zappone crony appointment or others. Why wouldn't they try it again?
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