Cronyism is a close relation of Irish politics and this is a chronic case

BERTIE AHERN’S promotion of his former partner Celia Larkin to the interim board of the new National Consumer Agency (NCA) is hardly a bad hair day for him.

Of course, it’s cronyism of the most blatant variety, but it is not new in this country. Cronyism and Irish politics are not distant cousins, being far more closely related than that. It could be said that this was why State boards were invented - so that political parties of all hues could reward party hacks. And it has been practiced since the foundation of the State - the Irish answer to the honours list.

That is not to suggest that every member of a State board is, or was, a political hack, but the boards have been a reservoir of payback for the party ultra-faithful. That’s why it was so amusing to hear members of the opposition foaming at the mouth at Bertie’s favouring an old girlfriend. Anybody would think he was the first to put an old buddy on a board. He might be the first serving Taoiseach to look after a girlfriend in this way, but that’s the only first.

Still, it’s not the first time that a Taoiseach, or a minister, has put a sleeping partner - in the widest, general sense - on some board to keep an eye on things. It might sound like a contradiction, even an impossibility, for a sleeping partner to keep an eye on things, but you know what I mean.

It has been said that Ms Larkin had considerable experience from her former career in the civil service in dealing with State bodies and, more recently, in private business.

What her experience in the civil service has to do with the price of bread, I just have not got a clue. Neither does her experience as a beauty consultant make her any more qualified to be appointed to a State board.

What’s more pertinent to her appointment is her previous experience with Bertie Ahern. Former girlfriend and political ally - it’s as simple as that. I suppose it could be said that Bertie is giving her career a makeover.

What the opposition should be jumping up and down about is not the fact that Celia Larkin was appointed to the NCA, but that anybody from a consumers’ group was not.

Independent consumer groups have no representative on the board, which means that consumers have no representative there to look after their interests.

The Consumers Association of Ireland (CAI) is not on it, and they described Ms Larkin’s appointment as confirming the fact that the Government favours big business.

CAI chief executive Dermott Jewell said she was just another appointee representing the business sector. The association had repeatedly demanded to have one professional independent consumer voice on the new board, but to no avail.

Insofar as the 13 members on the NCA have to spend money on the everyday things, they can be described as consumers. But as for standing up for consumers’ rights, then I’m afraid the public has no reason to be confident.

Failing to appoint even one professional independent consumer voice - one with experience - to this board can only lead to the conclusion that consumers’ rights are not to be taken seriously by the Government.

The rather perplexing aspect of Ms Larkin’s appointment is the fact that Bertie Ahern left it to the last minute.

Defending the appointment, a spokeswoman for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheál Martin, whose department will oversee the NCA, said Celia Larkin was chosen for her “ability, experience and skill”.

Surprising, then, that she wasn’t one of the first to be appointed instead of being the last - a month after the other 12 members were announced. Even at that, it took him six weeks to recognise such “ability, experience and skill”, which is how long it took him to nominate her, having been asked in the middle of May for a name.

The Government shouldn’t have bothered denying the charge of cronyism because it is a condition which is easily diagnosed, and this appointment has all the symptoms. It is, by any measure, a chronic case. What no Government spokesperson was wheeled out to comment on was why Bertie Ahern took so long to nominate her. It’s glaringly obvious why he left it to the last minute.

The Dáil has recessed for three months, so there can’t be any criticism of him there and, hopefully, the furore will have died down by the time it resumes. It also had the advantage of taking the likes of the CAI by surprise without any serious repercussions.

MICHEÁL MARTIN, who led the Government charge in defending Bertie’s nomination, said: “Are people now saying that because of who she is, she is to be debarred from ever serving on any State board or from making a contribution to public affairs?” Yes, minister.

Celia Larkin, could, of course, make a contribution to public affairs by keeping an eye on our public finances and telling the former love of her life about cock-ups.

Like the current one in the Department of Health where the Health Service Executive (HSE) has blamed a combination of human error and procedural gaps for a little problem they have with a new computerised system they bought a year ago.

It paid out €1 million in wages to a social worker who spotted it. I mean, you would, wouldn’t you, when the pay-packet is €1m over the top. Some error, some gap.

It was not spotted by the computer system, which cost €120m to install and, in fairness to the social worker he, or she, was not in Rio de Janeiro when they informed the department. Bigger eejit. It was ironic that the system was called the Personnel, Payroll and Related Systems.

Tánaiste Mary Harney, who also doubles as Health Minister, has acknowledged that there were serious problems with the system, which prompted Fine Gael to accuse the Government of incompetence.

The party’s spokesman on Finance, Richard Bruton, said the fact that the Government had spent €120m on an ineffective IT system showed that they were incompetent to spend taxpayers’ money effectively.

With all due respect to Richard Bruton, a person would not have to be a party spokesman on Finance to realise that the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats coalition is dedicated to wasting taxpayers’ money. It’s part of their policy and one that is likely to return this conglomeration to power for the third time.

The public’s watchdog on how the Government wastes our money, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has already launched an investigation into it.

While that office does a remarkable job in pointing out the waste to the Government when the money has already been spent, it’s a pity that there isn’t a body to point it out before it happens.