Enda Kenny: Fine Gael strategist should go before PAC

The Taoiseach has said Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery should appear before the Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about his pension payments from Rehab.

There was strong criticism of Mr Flannery, a former chief executive of Rehab, when he did not turn up at a PAC hearing last week, even though he was in Leinster House at the time.

“Frank Flannery is not an employee of Rehab but a member of the board and was chief executive for quite a number of years. All agencies under sections 38 and 39 who deal with public funds in any fashion should be absolutely forthcoming about their business as far as the public is concerned,” said Mr Kenny on RTÉ yesterday.

He added: “Rehab and all rehabs should be absolutely above board with the public where public money is concerned.”

Mr Flannery, largely credited as the brains behind the Fine Gael comeback after its bruising election defeat in 2002, was CEO of Rehab for 25 years, retiring in 2005, when he was replaced by Angela Kerins.

For the past three years, he has sat on the board of directors.

His comments come as Ms Kerins once again found herself in hot water as a former property developer revealed that he had flown her around Ireland and Britain. Property mogul John Kelly revealed to a Sunday newspaper how he had allowed Ms Kerins to use his helicopter and said he spent €100,000 on hospitality, private jets and flights for the executive in the hope that it would help him secure rights to purchase Rehab’s Sandymount headquarters in Dublin.

He flew Ms Kerins to the Galway Races after she invited him to attend a Fianna Fáil function and paid for her to eat at Michelin-starred restaurants. When she travelled to London by helicopter, she was transferred by limousine from the airport to hotels such as the Dorchester and Claridges.

In her appearance before PAC last week, the agency boss denied she was being transported by helicopter at the expense of the charity. “Any one [helicopter] that I have been in hasn’t been mine and hasn’t cost me anything,” she said.

In a statement this weekend, Ms Kerins described the helicopter trips as “social occasions” and said they weren’t arranged with a view to Kelly buying the Roslyn Park land in Sandymount.

Mr Kelly has offered to appear before the PAC if necessary.

Last week, the PAC sought details from Ms Kerins about how Rehab spends the €83m in funding it receives from the State.

Ms Kerins said she was a private citizen working in a non-State company who had waived privacy rights by laying out her salary details. She said she is not paid out of money from the public.