Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has questioned whether any Government Ministers benefited from FÁS largesse by having gifts or services bought for them at taxpayers’ expense.

Speaking following the resignation of Rody Molloy, Deputy Varadkar said it is still not clear who had benefited from some of the gifts or services purchased by FÁS.

“For instance, we read in the Irish Times that the person who received $410 worth of treatment in a Florida nail bar was not a FÁS executive or their spouse. …[more]

Image via Wikipedia Tánaiste must back or sack FÁS chief & board

Agency breached Dept of Finance travel guidelinesTánaiste Mary Coughlan must back or sack FÁS chief Rody Molloy and his board following allegations in the Sunday Independent that the agency spent €643,000 on transatlantic travel for its boss and other leading staff members over four years, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has said. When Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny raised concerns over FÁS’s activities in the Dáil, Taoiseach Brian Cowen fully backed FÁS management. The Gardaí, the Public Accounts Committee and the Comptroller & Auditor General are all investigating, or set to investigate, this State Agency. …[more]

On Saturday I addressed the Fine Gael National Conference in Wexford on the countries economic challenges. I include my speech below.

Many ask about the difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. There are many differences, but first among those is that Fine Gael is the Party that is unafraid to tell to the truth, about the problems we face and the opportunities we hold.

The truth about our economy is not pleasant and is not easy to hear. Truth be told, the Celtic Tiger boom ended more than five years ago. Since then our share of world trade has been falling, and value of our exports has reduced. This harsh reality however, was concealed by a debt-fuelled and unsustainable boom in house prices and construction, the inevitable collapse of which we are all now witnessing. …[more]

Yesterday’s Sunday Independent carried a piece I wrote on the National Pay Agreement. I include the piece below.

LAST Monday, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions ratified the National Wage Agreement. The Irish Business and Employers’ Confederation is also expected to ratify the agreement.

Under its terms, public sector employees will receive a 3.5 per cent pay rise in August 2009 and a further increase of 2.5 per cent in first half of 2010. This comes on top of a 2.5 per cent increase which was paid in September, and on top of annual, long-service and other increments. …[more]

For more, log onto Fine Gael’s new Fairer Budget site

In Fine Gael, preparations for next June’s Local and European Elections are well underway. Back in the summer, I chaired the party’s first convention. It was for Athlone Town Council. Last week, I was ‘guest of honour’ at Tony O’Donnell’s campaign launch in Kildare and this week, I chaired the party’s convention in Swords which selected Cllr Anne Devitt, James Lawless and Bob Dowling to contest the Swords-Donabate Electoral area in which we hope to take two seats. In my own constituency, Kieran Dennison and Adeola Ogunsina were selected to contest the Mulhuddart Electoral Area which includes Clonee, Tyrrelstown, Hollystown, Clonsilla, Hartstown and Huntstown.

A few weeks ago, I did a post about how the Dail would look if the last Red C poll was repeated in a General Election. The MRBI poll is much the same though the Greens would fair a little worse and indepedents a little better. So how about the Local and European Elections. …[more]

Tánaiste not on top of her brief

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has described as astonishing Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s last-minute U-turn on allegations of wrongdoing in FÁS, which he described as further evidence that she is not on top of her brief.

“The Taoiseach and Tánaiste denied for many months that anything is amiss in FÁS. But this morning Mary Coughlan decided to fast-track ongoing investigations into FÁS by bypassing the Public Accounts Committee and asking the Comptroller & Auditor General to begin his own investigation immediately. …[more]

I recently put down a number of parliamentary questions looking to ascertain the cost of the 2.5% and 3.5% pay increases agreed in the National Pay Agreements. These pay increases, the 2.5% which came into place in September of this year, and the 3.5% which will come into play this time next year, add up to at least an extra €1 billion to the Civil Service payroll when both are fully in force.

And that’s not all, this does not include a variety of hidden costs of the pay agreements to the State which do not appear in this calculation – this includes the cost of the pay agreement increases  for employees of state-owned companies, local authorities, some state agencies and to private contractors who provides service to government (eg GPs).

…[more]

One person is now losing their job every three minutes.

Nearly 70,000 people have lost their jobs since Brian Cowen became Taoiseach, and there are now more people on the live register than when Fianna Fáil came to power in 1997.  In percentage terms, the Standardised Unemployment Rate of 6.7% is the highest since 1998. Ireland is now certain to overtake the EU average by the end of the year.  In Dublin 15, the number of people signing-on has increased by 233 in the past month and now stands at 5429, this represents and increase of 2050 or over 60% in twelve months and  1,276  or 30% since Brian Cowen became Taoiseach. …[more]

Last week, Fine Gael devoted its Private Members time to a motion on the current unemployment crisis. My speech on the debate can be found below the fold, while the debate in full can be accessed from the Oireachtas website (the debate was over Tuesday and Wednesday).

…[more]