Category: Government

FAS scandal – Entering phase three

The FAS scandal has now moved into phase three.

Phase one was the denial by Tanaiste Mary Coughlin that there were any serious questions to answer.

Phase two was the uncovering of the real story by the media, so called State authorities don’t do investigation/accountability.

Phase three requires a fall guy to avoid the risk of real accountability.

The Government makes an offer to Molloy that he can’t refuse – resign with full pension and entitlements or we’ll screw you into the ground.

Molloy has only two years to do before official retirement, time to take the money and run, time to abandon any pretence of serving the people. In return for his betrayal of the State he will receive high (but dishonest) praise from Government ministers for his ‘loyal and honourable’ service to the country.

As he legs it out the door with his bags of money and fat pension his ears ring with the last order from his political masters:

Don’t even think about playing the hero by appearing before the Public Accounts Committee’.

Titanic logic

In response to the FAS scandal Taoiseach Brian Cowen has instructed all heads of departments to check that their departments are not abusing taxpayer’s money.

Given the high level of incompetence and corruption in the civil service this is like the captain of the Titanic instructing the crew to make sure that lifeboats are properly painted as the waves lap around the bridge.

A pathetic hope

Incredibly, because Rody Molly has resigned he no longer has any obligation to appear before PAC to explain his activities.

Senator Boyle said PAC could insist but they would have to go through a complex legal process and he hoped Mr. Molly would appear on a voluntary basis.

So here we are as a country waiting for answers to very serious questions and all we have is the hope that the principal suspect will volunteer to cooperate – Pathetic

The Green's – Fully integrated

Senator Dan Boyle of the Green Party was pure Fianna Fail on the Pat Kenny Show this morning on the subject of the FAS scandal.

Senator Boyle claimed that no elected representative of the Green’s had expressed any confidence in FAS chief executive Rody Molloy.

Fionn Sheehan of the Irish Independent strongly disagreed claiming that he was told by a Green Party spokesperson that they had full confidence in Mr. Molloy.

Asked about the inconsistency Senator Boyle said:

“I believe the context in which he made the statement was because there was a series of questions in relation to the statement the Taoiseach had made which the Taoiseach had to make in the context of an ongoing process.”

Ah yes, the Green’s have been fully integrated.

Circle of unaccountability

The continuing scandal at FAS is not important. We have seen hundreds of such cases over the past few decades; we will see many more into the future. What is important is the response to the scandal because it gives us a clear indication of how bad things really are in this country.

Brian Cowen responded by defending his pal Rody Molloy. This tells us that Cowen’s much lauded intelligence and leadership skills amount to nothing more than that of a typical Fianna Fail backwoodsman who will remain loyal to his constituents to the death but has little understanding of what’s going on in the wider world.

Mary O’Rourke accepts that some of the things that happened in FAS were unacceptable but is absolutely sure that such things are not happening in any other Government department. This is arrogant stupidity on a massive scale.

Rody Molly believes it’s all a media conspiracy to bring down FAS. This is the defence of a desperate man running out of excuses.

Bernard Allen (FG) chair of the PAC refuses to comment because he doesn’t want to prejudge the outcome of PAC ‘investigation’. This is a standard response for politicians who don’t have the courage to challenge the corrupt system.

That corrupt system is specifically designed to go around in circles so that nobody is held accountable. The powerless PAC will carry out an investigation and pass on their findings to the powerless C&AG.

The C&AG will then conduct his own investigation and pass his findings to PAC. PAC will then call in FAS officials (again) to ask them meaningless questions and the bureaucrats will reply with meaningless answers.

The whole thing will be widely covered in the media for a few days and then forgotten.

But by far the most serious aspect of this scandal, which seems to have been overlooked by everybody, is the continuing and alarming tendency of civil servants to take on powers to which they are not entitled or at least should not be entitled.

Recently we had the absolute refusal by the FSAI to name the water company responsible for supplying contaminated water to the public thereby putting the health of consumers at risk.

Just yesterday we had yet another report from the financial ombudsman, Joe Meade, outlining the outrageous exploitation of consumers by renegade financial institutions. Yet, Mr. Meade steadfastly refuses to name these vultures thus allowing them a free hand to continue exploiting consumers.

The FAS case is even more serious. When Senator Ross first submitted his FOI he was told that it would cost him €1,000. Later, he was told that the cost would actually be about €200.

Senator Ross believes, and I agree with him, that the civil servant lied to him in an attempt to prevent the release of damning information.

In a functional democracy Senator Ross would have immediately realised the gravity of the situation and reported the civil servant to an appropriate authority who would have sacked the corrupt civil servant on the spot.

Weird and wonderful fantasy world of FAS

The musical chairs of investigations surrounding the State training agency FAS continues apace.

Now let’s be clear here, the aim of all these investigations is not, I repeat, not to uncover the truth and bring alleged wrongdoers to account. No, the aim is to give the impression that action is being taken so that we can all continue to pretend that we live in a normal, functional democracy.

There are at least two Gardai investigations in progress but these can be immediately discounted. It’s rare, very, very rare for the Gardai to actually follow through on such investigations; it is likely they will be allowed to run into the sand

The Public Accounts Committee is also investigating the matter although ‘investigating’ is probably too strong a word, it might be more accurate to say they’re ‘looking into the matter’.

However, because the committee includes opposition TDs there is a slight possibility that somebody might be made ‘accidentally’ accountable. This, I believe, is why Tanaiste Mary Coughlan is trying to transfer the job to the so called independent Comptroller and Auditor General.

The C & AG, who has no legal power to act on any findings, produces very ‘government friendly’ reports as we saw from his whitewash report into Bord na gCon.

In that report he uncovered very serious corruption, fraud and incompetence yet concluded that

“In material respects the financial affairs of the company were properly run.”

Yes, the C & AG is the man for the job.

Indeed, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said as much recently.

“The comptroller’s report into the training body would ensure that the good reputation of the organisation would be upheld.”

I’m sure the report will do exactly that Brian!

Here’s an up to date list of the weird and wonderful ways FAS spends taxpayer’s money.

Huge amounts of money spent without obtaining the necessary authority from the board of FAS. (Echoes of the Bord na gCon scandal here).

An advertisement contract given to a local newspaper, possibly in a pub, where it is alleged match tickets were exchanged for the contract.

€1.7 million spent on duplicating a website that already existed.

An exhibition contract of €250,000 given to somebody at double the going rate.

A general disregard for normal procurement procedures within the organisation.

Hair and beauty treatment.

Pay per view movies.

Golf games.

Dinner for 33 persons at the Merrion Hotel at €200 a head.

€640,000 travel expenses on flights to the US over the last four years.

Chauffeur services.

Staff with credit card limits of €76,000.

Gifts given to various people including a €500 glass barometer presented to the former Minister for Education when she visited a FAS operation in the US.

€1,633 for flowers at a FAS function in the luxurious Carton House Hotel.

€146,000 on hotels in 2005.

First shot in Lisbon II campaign

I see the Government is to considering amending the ethics law to force organisations and individuals to declare where they got the money to pay for their political campaigns.

We can take this as the first shot in the Lisbon II campaign.

Now (says Cowen) how are we going to force these people to reveal the source of their money while keeping our own sources secret?

Questions, questions…

It’s inevitable that the banks will be recapitalised, probably this week.

It’s the other ‘range of measures’ that Cowen mentioned that remain a mystery. Here are some of the questions I think the Government, the Financial Regulator and the banks might be chewing over.

How do we recapitalise using taxpayer’s money but at the same time ensure that the banks are not penalised in any way?

How do we ensure that the greedy chancers who caused the crisis keep their jobs?