Finance Minister says Sipo needs further powers as Richmond replaces English
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pictured with Neale Richmond buildings after his appointment as Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Social Protection.
Neale Richmond has been appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, replacing Damien English who resigned on Thursday.
Mr English resigned over a failure to properly declare a property interest.
Referring to an article on the Ditch website, he said questions were raised about his planning application from 14 years ago.
“I reviewed this application, made in 2008, and it is clear to me that I failed to inform Meath County Council about ownership of my house in Castlemartin. This was wrong, not up to the standard required and I apologise for doing so,” he said.
Speaking following the Cabinet decision this morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I was very happy to nominate Neale Richmond for this important position.
“Neale is an exceptionally capable politician and parliamentarian who has been to the forefront of issues arising from Brexit, including its impact on Irish business and trade. He is a first time TD but has also served a full term in the Seanad.”
Mr Richmond has been appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with special responsibility for Employment Affairs and Retail Business and the Department of Social Protection.
He is a TD for the Dublin Rathdown constituency.
“I have asked Neale to work closely with Ministers Simon Coveney and Heather Humphreys on maintaining Ireland’s strong employment base in the face of challenging global conditions, and to aim for ongoing growth in all of Ireland’s main employment sectors.
“I have also asked him to continue his focus on ensuring that the work permits system is operating effectively and allowing essential staff to come to Ireland.
“He will also be responsible for seeing through the reforms I initiated as Minister including sick pay and the move to a National Living Wage,” Mr Varadkar added.
It comes as the Finance Minister said events which led to the resignation of Mr English “only serve to damage public trust and confidence in politicians and politics” and shows the need for ethics in office reform.
Speaking at University College Cork on Friday, Michael McGrath said the events surrounding Mr English are now “a matter for respective authorities now as to whether they wish to carry out investigations and take the matter further”.
However, for the Government and for the Oireachtas, it does underline the need for reform in the area of ethics and public office, Mr McGrath said.
The annual report from the Standard in Public Office (Sipo) Commission last summer said that "no progress" has been made on several recommendations regarding proposed reforms.
Mr McGrath said: “During my time as Minister for Public expenditure, we did complete a comprehensive review of Ireland's statutory framework for ethics in public life and I secured the approval of Government last month for bringing forward legislation to overhaul this area because it is now 20 years since legislation was brought in.”
The legislation needs to be modernised, according to the Cork South Central TD.
“We have a whole series of recommendations going back to various tribunals of inquiry, and we have annual recommendations being made by Sipo itself as a body.
“The Oireachtas does need to take this seriously. I believe that legislation will be brought forward by the government over the course of this year. We do need to finally update and modernise and strengthen the framework for ethics in public life because events like this only serve to damage public trust and confidence in politicians and politics. And that's not good for our country,” he said.
Sipo needs further powers and resources, he added.
“The most important outcome, I think, from all of this is the need to reform the system, to strengthen the system, to make sure Sipo has more powers, and that the obligations are updated to reflect modern society.
“We are still competing paper-based forms for example by way of annual returns, so it is outdated. It's in urgent need of reform and the Government will deliver on that reform.” Mr McGrath said he believes it is incumbent on every individual to ensure that their affairs are fully in order.
“All of the returns are a matter of public record, are published , and I think have been the subject of extensive scrutiny, and no doubt further scrutiny to come,” he said.
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