Taoiseach rejects claim jobs were created to win election

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is rejecting suggestions that public service jobs were generated to win the general election.

He was reacting to a report in a newspaper that 14,000 public vacancies were specially created to buy votes last May.

Speaking at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, Mr Ahern said the jobs were created to fill shortfalls in the public service.

"The numbers have gone up, because the Government has been putting, when we had resources, huge resources into improving services so that issues like waiting lists and hospital beds and people dealing with children will have extra staff in so that is why the numbers are up."