Keaveney defends appointing wife to job

Defiant Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney has insisted he did nothing wrong by appointing his wife to a taxpayer-funded €52,000-a-year job as his assistant.

The often outspoken Galway East TD said: “I haven’t broken any law,” as he claimed the arrangement was only short-term.

“It is a temporary arrangement until I backfill the position that has been vacated. We are in the process of recruiting again, but in the meantime, in that four weeks, the job and work of the service that we offer must continue,” the TD told Galway Bay FM.

Mr Keaveney, who has positioned himself as the voice of grassroots Labour members since being elected to the post of chairman against the wishes of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore in April, insists he has not breached party guidelines on employing relatives.

Mr Keaveney said he hired his wife, Deirdre Moran, after his previous parliamentary assistant, Cllr Johnny Walsh, left the role by “mutual agreement”.

Mr Keaveney said there was nothing inappropriate about appointing his wife without first advertising the post, and that he trusted her to deal with constituents’ personal information.

Despite Mr Keaveney’s claim he has not broken guidelines, the Labour Party insists it advised all its TDs after the general election against hiring close family members for their staff.

Fine Gael has issued similar recommendations, but despite this, 18 coalition TDs, or almost 20%, have a close relative working for them at the taxpayers’ expense.

The Labour chairman has made something of a name for himself as an outspoken critic of coalition policies.

Mr Keaveney made the front page of the Financial Times earlier this month when he raised the possibility of a snap general election because of Labour outrage at a raft of health cuts proposed by James Reilly that would have impacted on the frontline care of disabled and elderly people.

The Galway TD also ruffled feathers when he told the Irish Examiner in May that any deal to secure a second bailout programme from the Troika would have to be put to the Labour membership for approval before the Government could sign it.

Fine Gael reacted angrily to the suggestion and many Labour figures said such a move would trigger the collapse of the Coalition.