PAC offers Flannery private meeting

The head of the public accounts committee has offered to meet ex-Rehab chief executive, Frank Flannery, in private in a bid to convince him to willingly submit to a public grilling by the cross-party group.

PAC chairman John McGuinness confirmed the move as a deadline looms for Mr Flannery and fellow ex-Rehab boss Angela Kerins to explain spending and top-level remuneration during their tenure at the charity.

Both have until Thursday to agree to either come before the PAC or be forced to do so under new compellability rules.

However, while Mr McGuinness stressed the PAC is obliged to perform its work in public, he is willing to meet privately with Mr Flannery to convince him to attend a public session without being forced to do so.

“As chairman of the PAC, and I can also say this for the clerk of the PAC, we’ve always made ourselves available to people who would be potential witnesses to explain the rules of the game and the rules of the exchange in the hearings, so that they’re prepared.

“That’s done with witnesses when they request information or guidelines on a hearing.

“We will hear a witness in any way that we can so that when they come before the committee they’re prepared for everything that might be asked of them,” the Fianna Fáil TD told a Sunday newspaper.

However, even if such a private meeting took place, Mr McGuinness said a public hearing must still occur.

“Whether we meet with Frank Flannery privately or not, it will not take away from the fact the public hearing is necessary because that’s how we do our business. It’s not that one meeting substitutes for another. We won’t do that.”

Mr Flannery, a long-time senior Fine Gael advisor, and his successor at the charity, Ms Kerins, have sparked outrage over their repeated failure to provide full details of how money is spent at the disability charity.

This is despite the fact more than 90% of Rehab’s funding comes from either Government or public donations. Among the issues the PAC wants clarified are: nAn exact breakdown of the €409,000 in “consultancy work” Mr Flannery performed for Rehab between 2007 and 2013. The official retired as CEOin 2006, but returned to its board in 2011. nWhy a significant number of these payments were paid to Laragh Consulting, a firm set up by Mr Flannery, after it had gone into liquidation. nBoth individuals’ salaries, bonuses, perks, and expenses.

nBoth individuals’ current pension entitlements from the charity. nBoth individuals’ connections to a coffin importation company called Complete Eco Solutions. Neither Mr Flannery or Ms Kerins attended a public grilling earlier this month, with Mr Flannery saying his rights as a private citizen were being breached and Ms Kerins alleging through her solicitor that she was too ill to attend. She had previously attended a lengthy meeting with the PAC in February, which uncovered a series of controversies at the group.