SF demands law on accountability

DÁIL REPORT:SINN FÉIN has demanded legislation to hold Ministers accountable for spending public money, in the wake of the expenses controversy surrounding Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF, Dublin South-Central) called on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to amend the Standards in Public Office legislation to allow for an annual statement of ministerial expenses.

This would allow the Dáil to question Ministers and former ministers, “whether they are Ceann Comhairle or not”.

Mr Cowen said changes had been brought forward, covering internal and foreign travel, in recent times.

This, said Mr Cowen, was “quite properly so, in terms of the new situation in which we find ourselves and the need to ensure that we use taxpayers’ money and scarce resources in the best possible way”.

The Taoiseach said such expenses were audited by the accounting officers in the various Government departments.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore highlighted the statement earlier yesterday by Mr O’Donoghue. He told him: “I acknowledge the letter of apology you issued today, but it suggests that it was by no means the exception and this appears to be the norm”.

But Mr Gilmore said the Taoiseach was asking people to bear a very heavy load and he called on Mr Cowen to tell the public “you are sorry and say it before you ask them to contribute any more”.

Moreover, while Mr Cowen was asking people to pay more, “we are being informed on a weekly and daily basis of the extent of the waste of taxpayers’ money which his Government has presided over for the past number of years”.

Referring to the expenditure of State employment agency Fás, and spending of €600,000 on television advertising that was never screened, Mr Gilmore said that “in fairness to the board of Fás, its members have done the decent thing and offered their resignations.” He added: “However, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen, who was responsible for expenditure 100 times that of the TV advertising and spent some €60 million on an electronic voting system that was never used, has not resigned and came out at the weekend to justify it.”

The Labour leader said the Taoiseach had avoided saying he was responsible for the country’s finances for four of the 12 years he was in government and “that a huge waste of taxpayers’ money was perpetrated by that government. I want you to say sorry and say it before you ask them to contribute more”.

Mr Cowen responded: “I have never sought to evade any responsibility, never in my life, but I do not claim that there is a perfect world under me or any one Deputy Gilmore served under.”

There was “a role for all of us in public service to make sure that taxpayers’ money which is hard earned as I well know – I represent constituents as much as Deputy Gilmore does and meet people from all walks of life – is not wasted.

“It is incumbent on us to make sure we do whatever is necessary. And that is why we are bringing forward an expenditure control programme through all aspects of services to see where we can find savings . . . and effectiveness before we have to ask people to go further than that.”