Coalition in ‘pre-election jobs deal’

THE Government was last night accused of colluding with Elan to fast-track the announcement of 300 jobs before the general election.

It has emerged that details of the jobs for Macroom, Co Cork, were unveiled on the eve of the election campaign before any grant aid was secured from the IDA. Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Phil Hogan said in the Dáil this was highly unusual practice.

The board of Elan was unaware of the announcement on the jobs, which were later pulled weeks after the election. Mr Hogan said Fianna Fáil had colluded with Elan in an attempt to win two seats in the marginal Cork North-West constituency.