Witnesses for Meeting of 4 December

Committee Room 1 Leinster House 10.00 a.m.

FÁS
Mr. Peter McLoone, Chairman of the Board
Mr Christy Cooney – Assistant Director General, Human Resources/Organisation Development/Public Affairs
Mr Donal Sands – Assistant Director General, Finance & Information Technology
Mr Patrick Kivlehan- Director -Internal Audit
Mr. Niall Saul, Board Member, Chairman of the Board Audit Sub-Committee
Mr. Jim Coughlan, Director South East Regions
Mr Denis Rowan, ADG Employment Services
Mr Rody Molloy

Department of the Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Mr. Dermot Mulligan, Assistant Secretary, Labour Force Development

Department of Finance
Ms. Gráinne McGuckin, Principal Officer

Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Mr. John Buckley, Comptroller and Auditor General

I have no particular love or hate for Libertas, or for Ganley himself. I’m actually pretty neutral on the whole thing. Yes he campaigned in favour of a No vote at Lisbon, a position with which I agreed. But that’s sort of besides the point.

The question that RTE seem to be posing is that Ganley is somehow a different political animal than what we’re used to. That his funding is somehow mysterious. That he has connections - horror of horrors - to making money from the US military industrial complex.

Maybe I’m the only one. But I don’t see the big deal about this. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to why Ganley’s finances should be put under the spotlight, and not those of Fianna Fail, the party that has been in power for the last 11 years and has presided over a cataclysmic property bubble? Or that we have no idea from where Fianna Fail, or Fine Gael for that matter, got most of their funding?

I heard one over the summer about FÁS. It was around the time that Enda Kenny told the Dail that gardaí were investigating the alleged misappropriate use of funds by a senior executive within FÁS.

The rumour was unverified obviously, so it is was basically gossip - and therefore has all of the qualifications that should be attached to any gossip.

The scenario laid out to me was that certain Sunday newspapers were involved in accepting advertising from FÁS. So what you might say. I was told that staff within those newspapers would agree a price with an individual, or individuals, within FÁS. The price might only be known to a small group of people and, critically, the price would be inflated.

A percentage of this overall advertising spend would then be shared, personally, between respective staff in certain Sunday newspapers and staff in FÁS. I guess it would be called kickbacks. Or fraud. That is certain parties within FAS may have been engaged in fraud.

We have already heard of certain allegations around advertising spending - even that an advertising company was set up by staff in FÁS.

Another rumour I heard, widely circulated, was that Mary Hanafin went on trips to Florida.

Senator Shane Ross will have further revelations for us on Sunday, no doubt.

In June, Cowen had this to say about Mr Molloy:

“the chief executive of that organisation is a person whom I personally hold in the highest regard, and whose integrity I would defend at all times, Mr Rody Molloy.” IT June 26, 2008.

Pretty straightforward. Mr Molloy was appointed director general by Mary Harney, then Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, to the position in October 2000. He is married to Noreen. He has been a civil servant since the days of Jack Lynch. He is from Crinkill, Co Offaly. He replaced Dr John Lynch, who went to CIE.

At the same time as Molloy’s appointment, Mary Harney appointed future husband Brian Geoghagen to be chairman of FAS.

(An aside: In October 1994, Brian Cowen was forced to sell shares in Arcon Resources, after it emerged they were seeking a mining licence while he was minister with responsibility in that area. Reynolds did not seek his resignation. In April 1996, in the first publication of politicians’ interests he said he held no shares, land, property, travel, renumeration or contracts.)

Curiously, Mary Molloy is herself related to the mother of Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan, Ann Lenihan (wife of the late Brian Lenihan).

Given the nature of these things in Irish politics, I can’t begin to imagine how deep the rabbit hole goes on this one. With the sums of money involved, this is probably the tip of the iceberg.

Update: Mr Molloy has resigned in disgrace. I can confirm Mary Molloy is not related to Rody.

The Facebook group was mentioned on TV3 news last night, and in the Irish Times yesterday. We passed 3,000 members a couple of hours ago.

So the revised figures, just 60 hours into the campaign:

1,781 members
6,000+ invited (could be way higher)
61 wall posts

The growth figures in three days (and so far today)

November 12: 255 members, 1,760 invited
November 13: 1,012 members, 5,534 invited
November 14: 1,781 members, 6,000+ invited

If current levels of uptake continue, the group will reach 10,000 members by the end of next week.

Red Mum will be at the Spire in Dublin at 2pm tomorrow, to protest Harney’s decision.

In just over 30 hours the group has gone from 1 member to nearly 900. The number of invites has gone from 300 to more than 5,000 in the same time period. Wall posts, many of them quite personal, now number 34.

At current levels of participation, the group should reach 10,000 in a few weeks, an unprecedented uptake for an Irish specific group. The ad promoting the group on Facebook has been displayed more than 50,000 times.

I fully support Red Mum in her efforts to get this nonsensical decision reversed, and look forward to the Government changing its mind.

But by the same token I have to ask myself three questions, based in part on instinct and in part on statistical probability.

1. How many of the old people protesting voted Fianna Fail?

2. How many of the old people protesting have always voted Fianna Fail?

3. How many of the old people protesting will vote Fianna Fail in the next election?

Crazily, I suspect most of them.

By the way my favourite protester sign read:

No country for old men, or women.

Update: I’ve just heard a rumour that Noel O’Flynn has also resigned from FF. Will try and find out if it’s true. Hmm nothing confirmed yet, but at the very least he will not vote in support of the legislation. Nah, he hasn’t resigned. Gutless wonder.

A CHURCH that had been ‘saved’ from demolition was knocked down anyway early this morning.

At 6am, residents near Croke Park woke to the sound of a bulldozer-type piece of machinery being driven into the front of the church.

The destruction on the quiet Jones’ Road, beside the GAA stadium, comes only a day after workers at the church site were served with notification from the council to stop work.

Residents had reported work at the site to Dublin City Council and gardai over the last two days, but this morning at 6am a machine was driven into the front of the building.

Not alone that:

Residents called gardai on hearing the commotion and when they arrived the person who was operating the bulldozer ran away.

The Ireland match against Cyprus will be held at Croke Park this evening and this partial demolition of the church is located at the railway bridge very close to the stadium.

The builder in question should be shot jailed in my opinion. Then fined. And then forced to rebuild the church as it was. I’m surprised at Bertie Ahern’s silence, it’s his constituency.

He obviously says “Government” a lot, but I think it serves as a good anchor to the rest of the words.