Cowen under pressure over Dáil speech on Fás chief

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is under pressure to explain whether he was aware that Rody Molloy had threatened the Government with legal action when he told the Dáil that the former director general of Fás did the “honourable thing” in resigning his position.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said last night there was a “clear contradiction” between details of Mr Molloy’s resignation revealed in the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday and what Mr Cowen told the Dáil at the time.

Mr Molloy resigned from his €203,000-a-year post last November after controversy over excessive spending at the agency, including a travel and expenses bill of €5.7 million in 2007.