October 23, 2025 by HillenSean

Expenses For Irish Presidency Cost 13,000 Euro Every Single Day

Thankfully, mercy of mercies, the Irish Presidential election is almost over.

In a few hours, people throughout the Emerald Isle can breathe a sigh of relief. And get on with everyday things, knowing full well that the winning candidate will have barely a whisper of an effect on their day-to-day lives.

They may, however, be a wee bit miffed that election of a person in office for the next seven years with no power to affect their lives will cost them over 35 million euro, over five million a year in salaries and expenses.

That’s over 13,000 euro for every single day.

Put another way, it’s over 1,600 euro per hour based on an 8-hour working day.

That could pay salaries for a helluva lot of nurses and doctors to help strengthen Ireland’s woeful health system. Not to mention what it could do for struggling schools and community centres.

It begs the question – Is it worth it?

Sadly, this presidential contest, if one can dignify it with this word, is also probably the most boring in living memory, aside from a single mini-drama when one of only three candidates dropped out, no doubt realising being so far behind in the opinion polls, he’d probably come in fourth.

It’s also sad that as the two candidates in the race have been well-established party supported national political figures for many years, real refreshing innovative change is obviously not on the Irish agenda for the foreseeable future. Something that’s probably welcome to some of Ireland’s politicians as their salaries and expenses are quite lucrative. Certainly compared to other countries.

This Presidential election has turned out to be the predictable cliche, Left Versus Right scenario, a pretty straightforward political party battle, with Catherine Connolly, who simply left the Labour Party because she wasn’t picked as an election candidate, head and shoulders intellectually above her rival, Heather Humphreys, former Minister for the Fine Gael coalition government partner. A lady who started her campaign with a fixed butter-wouldn’t melt-in-my-mouth regal smile until, seeing herself well behind her rival, suddenly grew fangs. Much too late.

What’s most depressing about this whole Presidential affair is that the leading parties in Ireland turned this election into ‘them-versus-us’ party political battle, thus making sure the next President of Ireland, the only position based on a national vote, would not be handed to a truly Independent candidate with experience on both the left and right of centre, someone from a working-class background but successful in business, someone with fresh new ideas, vision and comprehensive international experience, something sadly neither candidate possesses.

Welcome to Ireland. Land of the Status Quo!

September 21, 2025 by HillenSean

Sinn Fein’s Presidential decision – a case of the tail wagging the dog

Is Sinn Fein’s decision this weekend to support Independent candidate, Catherine Connolly, in November’s Irish Presidential elections a case of the tail wagging the dog?

It certainly seems so.

After much dithering and delay, Ireland’s third ranked political party – which not so long ago could have topped the polls nationwide and emerged as the nation’s leading party if they’d only put forward more candidates – could not even decide on its own Presidential candidate, party member or not.

Instead, it meekly followed in the wake of other smaller Left-leaning parties who have been supporting Connolly for many months.

*Catherine Connolly – established Irish politician.*

If that’s not the tail wagging the dog, what is?

No matter how well the story is spun – and sadly Sinn Fein party leader Mary Lou MacDonald offered an ‘over-the-top’ act to do so a few days ago, uttering the superlative cliché ‘game-changer’ – this non-decision decision may come back to bite her and her colleagues.

While they won’t say it publicly, the other Left wing parties in Ireland are now frothing at the mouth at the possibility of stealing parliament seats from Sinn Fein at the next election.

Unfortunately, Mary Lou made the situation even worse this weekend when she tried vainly to justify choosing Connolly by saying recent Irish presidents had been elected “from outside the political establishment” and that Connolly was following in that tradition.

What a load of nonsense.

Catherine Connolly has been an ‘established’ politician for the last quarter of a century, beginning as local councillor in Galway, then rising to Mayor five years later, then becoming a TD ten years ago. For goodness sake, she was even chairperson of Ireland’s national parliament for a full four years.

If that’s not ‘established’, what is?

Even the present President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, elected not once but twice over the last 14 years, was a ‘classic established politician.’ For almost half a century including stints as Labour Party president, Senator, TD (Member of Parliament) and even as a Minister.

One has to ask oneself ‘Who the hell is writing Mary Lou’s scripts. And who’s conducting her research?”

I’ve always been Left of center in my political outlook, and would like Sinn Fein to be in Government and shake up the meagre mediocrity of Irish politics. But with poor decisions like this one over the Presidency, I fear that’s not going to happen any time soon.

Sinn Fein has shown itself in many instances to be a no-risk party, including its electoral management strategy in Donegal where I now live. In order for it to justify its claim as a leading party, it needs to take risks. But time and time again, it has shown itself to be very much risk averse.

My humble view is that Irish people are desperate for a fresh face in Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the President of Ireland, someone truly not involved in Irish politics. Someone with the international experience necessary to conduct the role of Presidency in a strong diplomatic manner. They simply don’t want the Presidential race to be based along worn, age-old political party lines.

That’s why someone like Gareth Sheridan – a man whose US-based company has accumulated losses of 40 million dollars and who has himself already been fined for misleading people about his business and whose main business partner is said to have links with Russian oligarchs – has managed to get two county councils in Ireland to nominate him as a Presidential candidate.

That’s how desperate Irish people are to find someone new.

Mary Lou went half way by talking about the need for someone new.

But then she went right ahead and selected someone straight from the old political establishment. And to make matters worse, someone other parties had already selected a long time ago.

It seems Sinn Fein may have just bought the ruling coalition of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael an early Christmas present.

September 18, 2025 by HillenSean

GAME-CHANGER OR GAME-OVER IN IRELAND?

Sinn Fein’s President Mary Lou McDonald today described on national airwaves that her political party’s long-awaited, soon-to-be-named Irish Presidential candidate would be a ‘game changer.’

@rtenews
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said that the party’s participation in the Presidential Election campaign will be a “game-changer”. Sinn Féin has been mulling over its approach to the race for Áras an Úachtaráin, with two options at its disposal – either run its own candidate or back Independent Catherine Connolly’s campaign. Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Co Offaly, Ms McDonald said she already knew the proposal she would be bringing to the party, but that it would not be made public until Saturday. Go to link in bio for more #rtenews #ireland #presidentialelection #sinnfein
♬ original sound – RTÉ News

Having used this grandiose, hifalutin phrase, that’s exactly what supporters and would-be supporters of Sinn Fein will be expecting that person to be – a unique choice who will shock and surprise everyone.

The kind of individual a disillusioned electorate are hungry for. Someone whose name and background will light a fire under what has already become – albeit in its early stages – a timid, banal, utterly predictable and lukewarm election campaign.

To use such a superlative phrase as ’game-changer’ and not deliver an individual with the immense passion, innovative vision and creativity the term demands will be considered by most people to be a dismal failure. And show Sinn Fein to be a ‘has-been, once-was’ party, one whose rise in recent years has incontrovertibly stalled.

To come up with something less – such as merely supporting Independent Catherine Connolly – will help damn the party into endless Opposition. It will signal to a triumphant Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition Government that it has nothing to worry about from Ireland’s third-ranked party. That Sinn Fein is all bark and bluster. But no real bite.

Regardless of the spin about Left wing unity, Sinn Fein supporting Connolly will be seen as nothing less than inherent party weakness. That of a political party seeking to lead the country that cannot even find a suitable candidate for the most universally elected political position in the nation.

That’s not leadership. That’s impotence.

Supporting Connolly, Sinn Fein at this stage will also be seen as being led by the other Left wing parties who decided on her months ago. And they risk losing key votes at the next election as a result, probably leading to an inevitable decline in its parliamentary seats. A major, perhaps irrecoverable, blow to the party’s hardworking grassroots members.

Thus it’s all-important, not just for future success but for sheer survival, that Mary Lou and her colleagues in the upper ranks of Sinn Fein deliver what they’ve promise so confidently. Nothing less will do.

In doing so, hopefully, they’ll also make this rather boring Irish Presidential battle a bit more interesting than it is right now, raising it from its low-level drab ordinariness.

If they don’t, Sinn Fein may pay a heavy price at the next election. And possibly never recover from the fall.

For a party that is admirably ethical and honest in its dealings, with a central mission of equality and justice for all, they need to find the courage to take risk, something the party is not particularly known for, as not running a second candidate in the Gweedore-Cloughaneely area in the last election showed, with Pearse Doherty’s massive surplus votes going nowhere instead of towards electing a record third TD in Donegal.

This Presidential campaign is Sinn Fein’s Rubicon moment. It’ll be intriguing to see if they manage to cross over. Or drown in the effort.

October 20, 2024 by HillenSean

Meet The Real Simon Harris – The Dishonourable Duke Of Duping

Is it not reprehensible – the height of hypocrisy in fact – that Simon Harris the leader of the Irish Government – has the audacity to accuse Sinn Féin in recent weeks of ‘duping’ people when it expelled several party members for substandard social behaviour?

The Cambridge dictionary definition of dupe is ‘to deceive’ and if anyone is guilty of deception, it is Harris and his colleagues in the coalition Government of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

Over the last four years since being in power – and for many years before that – these parties have been nothing less than ‘repeat offenders,’ constantly deceiving the ordinary hardworking people of Ireland with false promises of a quality lifestyle as befitting a nation that is one of the earliest members of the European Union, then called the European Economic Community, or EEC for short, back in 1973.

Instead, however, we have one of the most disastrous health systems on the continent, with people waiting years for life-saving surgeries, often dying before they receive it; we are awash in homelessness and poverty, with an estimated people 30,000 living on the streets, including thousands of young children and infants; we have a forsaken, forgotten, forlorn State where retirees and newlyweds alike are unable to afford the rent of a simple home, never mind the financial resources to even remotely consider buying one to end or begin their lives together in a modicum of comfort.

Not only does the Dishonourable Duke of Duping continue to deceive people that after all these years he’ll one day consider putting a roof over our heads, but he himself basks in the lap of luxury in one of the most expensive and elitist places in Ireland, the scenic coastal town of Greystones in county Wicklow, where he was born, where he lives and where houses cost up to two million euro, and more.

But is it not somewhat harsh of us to criticise the Dishonourable Duke of Duping for his lack of common decency? Is it not unfair to ask a man of such Royal blood living in such a high falutin’ environment to understand the plight of so many desperate Irish people? Is that not akin to asking King Charles of England to make his own cupán tae once in a while?

Shamefully, while the wealthy in Ireland (many of whom are the Dishonourable Duke of Duping’s closest neighbours) while away their days in decadent lifestyles with fancy homes in fancy places or travel in environmentally-damaging private jets (which the Dishonourable Duke of Duping does frequently) and indulge their whims in ostentatious holiday homes abroad (which the Dishonourable Duke of Duping often does), modern Ireland suffers the worst housing shortage in its entire 100-year history.

Studies show less than a third of 30-year-olds own their home. Over half of all newly-built homes in greater Dublin alone were bought or developed by global vulture investor funds, thus locking countless people out of ever attempting to buy one. These ‘vampire funds’ don’t buy homes to sell, they buy them to extract high rents in perpetuity. In other words, they suck the lifeblood out of decent Irish society.

And to make matters worse, the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his cadre of Government lackeys allowed a temporary no-fault eviction ban in Ireland to lapse last March, thus opening the floodgates for more than 15,000 notices of termination to be issued last year, making the number of evictions higher than it was during the Famine in the mid-1800s.

For centuries, gutless, greedy, often absentee, landlords, have been the scourge of Ireland, rich, ruthless people who with the click of a finger, a scribbled signature on a sheet of paper, thoughtlessly tossed hungry families out into the ditches.

Now it seems the same is happening all over again in modern Ireland, this time under the dictatorial rule of the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his ignoble entourage.

Instead of urgently dealing with these major social and health issues that are making the lives of so many Irish people intolerable, Harris and his well-to-do cohorts, including Government coalition leaders, Micheál Martin of Fianna Fail and Roderic O’Gorman of the Green Party, are pointing their grubby finger at Sinn Féin, an oft-used political ploy to distract popular attention away from the real issues, and their own failings on them.

In doing so, however, these ‘I’m-better-than-you’ leaders fail to realise something important. While the bitter winds of winter howl at our doors, while Storm Ashley batters the coast this weekend, Irish people are not bears. They are not hibernating. They are wide awake. And fearful. And hungry. And cold. And they remember the empty promises made to them from on high four years ago, and for many years before that.

Maybe, just maybe, we should ask Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald to re-tell the story of these empty promises once more, to remind us how easily we were taken for fools. And in doing so, help us make sure the Dishonourable Duke of Duping and his Royal patrons don’t sneak back into power through the back door and make jesters of us for another four years in their Court of Failure.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ve learned our lesson and are wide awake enough to elect Sinn Féin, the ‘Party of Change’ and improve things for the better. For each and everyone of us, our parents, our children and the generations who come after.

December 21, 2014 by HillenSean

Complaint about Udaras cover-up sent to Ombudsman

Ireland’s biggest fault is lack of accountability – the main reason we’re in the humiliating position of doffing our caps and begging for mercy from the IMF.

Instead of fairness and transparency in public affairs, we get cronyism and cover-ups. The Central Remedial Clinic, The Financial Regulator, FAS, the Rehab Group, the John McNulty scandal …. the list is a depressingly long one.

But what’s even worse is when our supposed independent media collude in supporting this kind of deception.

Damning evidence this week indicates that is exactly what the local office of Udaras na Gaeltachta and the ‘Donegal Daily’ news website have been involved in.

Earlier this year, Udaras’ local tourism officer Gearoid O’Smaolain contacted Stephen Maguire, the news website’s co-owner, complaining that a report on the site contained what he said was “a fabricated quote,” attributed to him when he spoke at the launch of the multi-million euro, EU-funded CeangalG project at An Chuirt hotel.

At that conference, I had asked O’Smaolain about a proposed addiction clinic in Falcarragh that was rumored would cost taxpayers several million euro and run by the Catholic church. O’Smaolain said discussions were indeed underway with Udaras, that his organisation didn’t have millions to spend and that no decent projects had been put forward for the site at Ballyconnell House beside the town golf course. Thus the article below:

Angry reaction to setting up addiction clinic in Falcarragh

As it was I who compiled the news report, Maguire promptly called me, saying O’Smaolain told him he had an official transcript of the conference to prove his accusation. I asked if he (Maguire) had read or listened to this transcript. He said he hadn’t but that O’Smaolain had sent him an excerpt. See below –

transcript email –

Upon reading this, I offered to give Maguire my notes from the conference so he could make a fair decision. Instead he sent this e-mail to both myself and O’Smaolain.

Imagine my shock, therefore when – without further notice – I then read this abject apology on the ‘Donegal Daily’ website the very next day.

I contacted Maguire repeatedly asking for an explanation and a copy of the official transcript of the conference. Months later, still no response.

I then contacted Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Scotland, the leader of CeangalG, which had also planned and supervised the conference at An Chuirt, asking them for a copy of the transcript.

Claire Nicolson, the organisation’s administrator, was helpful, initially saying she did not think there was such a transcript, and, when I requested a definitive answer, responded this week in the message below that was also c’d to Alasdair Morrison, a former minister in the Government of Scotland, now CeangalG director.

From: Claire Nicolson <claire@connectg.net>

To: Sean Hillen <sean.hillen@yahoo.com>

Cc: Alasdair Morrison <alasdair@connectg.net>

Sent: Friday, December 12, 2014 5:31 PM

Subject: Re: Donegal conference

Seán, a chara, thanks for your email.

That was our cultural tourism conference in February. I recall you asking for this information before. I’m sorry, there was no transcript or recording of the event.

Le gach dea-ghuí

Claire

O’Smaolain therefore, it emerges, not I, was involved in fabrication. Worse, Stephen Maguire and ‘Donegal Daily,’ fully supported him in doing so based on a transcript that never existed.

One might ask: Why was this subject so sensitive that such lies and deceit were used to keep it from the public eye? And why would an editor kowtow so easily to make an unjustified apology and retract a perfectly accurate news story from a website?

As the reasons for Maguire’s actions are obviously not in pursuit of journalistic excellence, are they merely financial? Did Udaras or organisations or individuals associated with Udaras either threaten him or Donegal Daily Ltd. with a lawsuit or through withdrawal of advertising? Or, indeed, did they promise future ad revenue if he simply did as they demanded?

By coincidence, John Curran whom Fine Gael appointed to the board of Udaras and who subsequently failed to win a local council seat recently, had a paid political banner ad in the ‘Donegal Daily’ when my addiction clinic broke. Did Curran threaten to withdraw his ad if the story was not squashed? See the ad at bottom of the same page as the story : Angry reaction to setting up addiction clinic in Falcarragh

If true, this is a most dismaying development, illustrating the reason why there is a falling level of trust by Irish people in today’s government.

Equally, O’Smaolain’s accusation in defense of Udaras – now shown to be false – illustrates why there’s a growing lack of faith in organisations trusted with spending scarce public money.

Gearoid O’Smaolain (l) and Stephen Maguire (r)

And most dismaying of all in many respects is the conduct of Stephen Maguire and the ‘Donegal Daily.’ As I pointed out in an earlier post, strong independent media underpins any democracy.

After more than 30 years in journalism both here at home and abroad, I still firmly believe this. As truth is the rudder that steers ethical decisions in journalism, it is most disappointing to see how Maguire and the ‘Donegal Daily abrogated responsibility in such a pathetic way.

Having investigated the situation comprehensively over the last few months, I forwarded a file to the Press Ombudsman and the Press Council of Ireland, only to be informed that it could not investigate further as ‘Donegal Daily’ is not a member of the council.

I find this ironic as only a few days ago the ‘Donegal Daily’ boasted of being among the most popular news websites, yet is not even a member of a nationally-respected organization to which all serious news media outlets belong.

I suppose, more than anything, this indicates how earnestly Mr. Maguire considers the importance of accuracy in news reporting.

My file outlining how Mr. O’Smaolain misused his authority in an effort to damage my reputation, is now with the Office of the Ombudsman. What action is taken, if any, will indicate if our government is serious about creating a more transparent and accountable society, thus preventing what happened to me, happening to others.

December 7, 2012 by HillenSean

Udaras na Gaeltachta consider challenges of creating new jobs

Meeting for the first time this morning (Friday), members of the new board of Udaras na Gaeltachta face the challenging tasks of analysing the organisation’s performance and brainstorming on ways to accomplish the goals for which the Irish-language body was established.

One priority is employment in Gaeltacht areas. “Job creation and language promotion go hand-in-hand,” Anna Ni Ghallchoir, 55, the new chairperson, told the Donegal News. “With my new board colleagues, I will be examining very closely if past strategies have been successful and come up with innovative ones to help us move forward.”

Depending on whom you speak to, Udaras has either an acceptable record on job creation, or a very poor one, reflecting the age-old comment that statistics are like sausages – they look good but you’re never quite sure what’s in them.

With total funding of around one billion euro so far, Udaras reported it had created 6,970 jobs as of last year in what it terms ‘client companies,’ defined as any company receiving support. When examined in the context of unemployment in Gaeltacht regions, this represents 7.75 per cent of the population there. As of last year, Udaras’ website shows it supported 1,876 jobs in the Donegal Gaeltacht, which represents 7.89 per cent of almost 24,000 people. Donegal Gaeltacht has the second largest number of Irish speakers, but ranks fifth in jobs created among the seven Gaeltacht regions.

Liam O‘Cuinneagain, Udaras chairperson for the last ten years, told the Donegal News he is “satisfied with our job creation performance,” adding, “It’s not easy to get companies to locate to rural Ireland, in part because of its remoteness and lack of transport links and limited skill-sets there.” As evidence in Donegal, he points to sectors Udaras has invested in – seafood processing, call centres (VHI), IT, sea angling, boat repair, even potato-crisp/fast food manufacturing (Largo Foods).

Other business analysts, however, are less satisfied with Udaras’ performance, including Tom Fitzgerald, fluent Irish speaker and business owner employing 50 people at Bard na nGleann, his information-management company in Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh in the Cork Gaeltacht. “A strong, well-run economic development organisation is important for the preservation and promotion of the Irish-language and for job creation in marginalized areas such as the Gaeltachts, including Donegal, but there’s no shying away from facts, Udaras is an extraordinarily expensive organisation,” Fitzgerald, whose company has an annual turnover of between one and two million euro, told the Donegal News. “There is little evidence of effectiveness in the statistics. By normal business practice standards, Udaras’ record so far is very poor.”

Fitzgerald points to the fact that the total number of jobs Údarás says it created was lower in 2010 than in 1996. “Furthermore, there’s no indication that the amount of money spent by Údarás in a single year has any impact on job creation in the Gaeltacht. For example: Údarás spent more than 84 million euro in 2002 according to its own annual report. Yet there is no corresponding spike in jobs either in that year or following years.”

O‘Cuinneagain says during his tenure as chairperson, “cost per job was around eight thousand euro.” However, a simple look at Udaras’s total expenditure for the last ten years (613.5 million euro) relative to the number of jobs it reports creating by the end of last year (6,970) equates to 88,000 euro cost per job. As only around 10 per cent of budget goes to language-cultural activities, the final cost per job figure may be as much as ten times higher than stated. In Donegal, a case study in job costs is Largo Foods, headquartered in Ashbourne, Meath, but with facilities in the Gaoth Dobhair Industrial Estate. According to Udaras, it has received over 6.2 million euro in funding between 1999 and 2011 – with another half-million euro to be paid soon for automated equipment. Udaras said last year the company employed 120 people. Taking those figures, that works out to be over 55,000 euro investment per job created, not considering funding from other bodies for Largo. Ironically, following the installation of the automated equipment earlier this year, media reported 36 jobs were lost at Largo.

As some of Udaras’s ‘client companies’ are also the ‘client companies’ of other organisations, foreign and domestic, from whom they receive additional support, it is difficult to evaluate what specific job numbers Udaras contributions amount to. “The term ‘client companies’ is a loose one, easily manipulated to suit purpose,” said Fitzgerald. “Some organisations that partly support companies in the Gaeltachts often claim all the jobs as their own making, which is quite misleading.”

O’Cuinneagain acknowledges that criticisms of Udaras for not supporting enough micro companies – entrepreneurs wishing to hire a handful of people – are valid. “We’re not getting what we should be getting – smaller businesses,” he said. “We’ve focused too much trying to get big companies that might employ hundreds. Even though the finance and support system is there, Udaras has not been welcoming enough. Staff have not been as pro-active as they should be, have not scoured their Gaeltacht communities to find such entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, we have remained in a culture of factory jobs.”

Asked why, the director of Oideas Gael, a language group in Glencolmcille, lay the blame on factors outside Udaras ranging from lack of business teaching in education “Greek and Latin instead of entrepreneurialism” to lack of bank finance. But he did not rule out the possibility that as funding a small company with thousands of euro amounted to nearly as much paperwork for Udaras staff as funding large companies with millions of euro, there may have be a Udaras propensity for avoiding small business applications. Asked if the push for larger companies could have been simply a strategy to keep employment figures up and for Udaras to retain its all-important job-creation remit, which accounts for most of its annual budget, he said, “That’s ridiculous, sounds more like a conspiracy theory to me.”

Fitzgerald’s opinion differs, “About the only goal that Údarás is measured on is the creation of 800 or so new jobs per year, so they focus on doing just that. The problem is that this strategy doesn’t take into account what kind of jobs they are. In theory, Údarás is better off creating jobs that disappear quickly so they can place the same people again in a year or two.”

Analysts also say the Udaras board members may not have had enough business experience to spearhead a successful jobs-creation strategy. Of the Donegal members on the previous board, none could be identified as having long-time corporate management experience. O’Cuinneagain waved aside concerns that the previous national board was too large, numbering twenty, which some analysts said made it unwieldy to manage and hampered decision-making. “I did not find our board meetings too difficult to manage, but then again my experience as a teacher in inner city Dublin for many years helped a lot,” he said.

Lack of fiscal clarity within Udaras concerns some observers.

“I spent several years studying the organisation and found its finances extremely difficult to understand,” one leading business researcher told the Donegal News. “I also found frequent errors in its calculations. Some figures on spending simply did not add up. There’s really no excuse for that when we have so many accounting software programs such as Excel at our disposal.”

When the Donegal News requested a breakdown of Udaras spending for the seven Gaeltacht regions, particularly Donegal, for the last three years, Siubhán Nic Grianna, national communications and marketing manager, responded, “The distribution of total monies is not segregated on a county by county or Gaeltacht by Gaeltacht basis therefore I cannot provide breakdown for Donegal for this period.”

Bernard Allen, former TD and head of the multi-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which oversees the proper spending of public money, told the Donegal News that lack of transparency at Udaras may have hindered job-creation efforts. “We found its expenses system to be incomprehensible and could not understand how it was spending so much money on trips for so-called job creation efforts.” Referring to the scandal over misspending by another state body, he added, “Udaras’ expenses read like a mini-FAS and it seemed to stymy our efforts to find out the truth and avoid disclosing pertinent facts and figures to us, especially related to board member, staff and associated expenses. With better accounting practices, perhaps its job creation efforts could have been more effective. ”

Some questions concerning expenses, including 30,000 euro over two years on trips to Halifax, Canada, to look at seaweed projects, costly business-class flights, trips to many international cities including Las Vegas, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Chicago, and expenses for spouses – which is counter to existing regulations – have still not been fully answered, Allen said.

Nic Grianna said such concerns lack basis. Describing the first story in this newspaper series as, “a slanted view, full of insinuations,” she added, “There was no reprimand from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). We are very open and transparent and explained everything. There has been no abuse of public money.” In response, Allen said simply, “We did not get all our questions answered satisfactorily and a national election was called and the PAC disbanded before we could investigate fully.” Even though the information is in the public domain, Nic Grianna declined a request for a breakdown of pensions for 136 Udaras former executives costing around 4.3 million euro this year, half of this year’s current budget. Efforts to contact retired executives Cathal MacSuibhne in Donegal and CEO Padraig O’hAolain through Udaras for comment, were unsuccessful.

With allegations of cronyism and clintelism tainting many public bodies, O’Cuinneagain said he did not experience conflicts of interest while Udaras chairperson. “My organisation, Oideas Gael, did not receive any money from Udaras so I certainly did not feel the need to excuse myself from board discussions on funding, nor did any of the other board members as they did not receive any money either.”

As the Udaras board meeting gets underway this morning, Sean O’Cuirean, a new member from Falcarragh, remains optimistic. “A good thing about this board is that there are a new set of eyes looking at the situation. Such fresh perspectives often result in greater success and money well spent.”

Published in Donegal News

November 20, 2012 by HillenSean

New start for Udaras na Gaeltachta

With its national board due to meet for the first time as early as next week and its all-important job-creation remit still intact, a new start seems in order for Udaras na Gaeltachta.

But controversy still bedevils the beleaguered organization with criticisms of misspending of public money and investigations into alleged petty corruption by former board members in Donegal hanging over its head.

Over the next few weeks, the Donegal News analyses the Irish-language organisation, with emphasis on its operations here, in an effort to understand whether it has accomplished its tasks with adequate self-governance or whether various criticisms it faces are justified. And what, if anything, can be learned from the findings.

On a positive note, Anna Ni Ghallchoir, from Arranmore, the newly-appointed national chairperson of Udaras, told the Donegal News, “We have a very committed team with varied experience on the board now and I have every confidence their combined efforts will lead to success.”

Sean O’Cuirean, Falcarragh solicitor, manager of Donegal Volunteer Center, and new board member, added, “Selection of board members was via open, competitive applications. I’m really looking forward to working with my colleagues to build dynamic Gaeltacht communities.”

The two, alongside ten other members, including Eunan MacCuinneagain, manager of Westbic, in Kilcar and a yet-to-be selected Donegal Council representative, face what Ni Ghallchoir termed “some daunting and challenging tasks ahead.”

At present, several former Donegal Udaras board members are under investigation by respective public ethics bodies for allegedly padding their expenses.

Concern over board and employee expenses accrued came to the fore over the last week when TDs at an Oireachtas Joint Committee were told by Minister’s Jimmy Deenihan and Dinny McGinley that half this year’s budget (€9.8 million in 2012) goes towards paying pensions of 136 former employees. Details are forthcoming as yet as to how much of the remaining budget goes into salaries and expenses of the 90 full-time employees and board members. Sinn Fein Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh said, “I nearly fell off the chair when I heard that,” adding, this raises serious concerns regarding the levels of monies being paid. Mean salaries at Udaras are around 80,000 euro.

In addition, it has been revealed that five Donegal board members were paid more than half a million euro in fees and expenses over the five-year period, 2004 to 2009. In this regard, board member O’Cuirean said, “It is a major step forward that we can save half a million euro on fees and expenses by reducing the board while maintaining full geographical representation and that the money saved can go towards worthy community or entrepreneurial projects.”

Frank McBrearty, Mayor of Donegal, bemoans the delay in having a council member appointed to the board. “It is a sad reality that investigations into former board members’ expenses, including our council nominee, David Alcorn, is underway but that means we are short one person on the Udaras board. That does not benefit the community here. It must also be remembered, those being investigated are innocent until proven guilty. I can understand Minister McGinley’s not wanting to have egg on his face by appointing someone until things are clarified.

Udaras has come under criticism in the past by various national bodies in the past including the Dail’s own multi-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which examines the spending of public monies. Bernard Allen, former Fine Gael TD and head of the PAC, who launched an examination of Udaras financial affairs that helped lead to the board’s restructuring, told the Donegal News this week, “I recall being very concerned about the lack of transparency in the accounts of Udaras, especially in terms of travel expenses and extra payments, both for trips within Ireland and abroad.” Those trips included, it was claimed, to Las Vegas, for officials to meet with representatives of the Irish Development Authority (IDA).

Speaking to the Donegal News, Liam O’Cuinneagain, chairperson for five years, defended his and the record of Udaras, “There was a lot of paranoia at the time about whether public bodies and semi-state ones were spending public money properly, a lot of exaggeration and misinformation. We have done a relatively successful job in helping Gaeltacht communities.”

New board members are reluctant to talk about the controversies, saying they occurred before their appointment. Chairperson Ni Ghallchoir, said, “I’d rather not comment on what went on before as I was not in any way involved with Udaras then, but to my mind, utter transparency is a given. Every citizen is fully entitled to as much information as they wish about public bodies such as Udaras and as chairperson I will make sure they have complete access to the workings of the organisation.”

Falcarragh’s O’Cuirean added, “Everyone is aware of the lack of transparency in Ireland in the past on certain matters and the unfortunate results for the country as a whole. My commitment is that in future Udaras will be completely open in its dealings so that projects – whether in culture, language or economics – are selected on merit and need, not on who certain people know. Cronyism should play no part in its affairs.”

Published in Donegal News