‘Taxpayers’ money - Government needs to lead by example

There is a danger that some of the criticism against Mary Harney will be perceived as taking on aspects of a witch hunt.

We need to keep the bigger picture in view. This should not be personalised against Mary Harney, Mary Hanafin, Rody Molloy, or anybody else.

This real issue is the evidence of wastage at the expense of ordinary Irish people. Such wastage may well be prevalent in private companies, but the shareholders of those private companies can ask questions at an AGM. In a democracy, the news media are expected to ask those questions.

This is all part of bigger picture, which is the economy. It is proper that these sort of issues are brought to the attention of the public, even though they might be perceived to be somewhat flippant to be complaining about the cost of Mary Harney’s wash and blow dry at a time when thousands of jobs are at risk in the midst of the current recession.

The reason that the Irish Examiner is dealing with the issue is not because it was a disgrace that a member of the Government got her hair done, but it is an outrage that members of the Government would adopt such a frivolous attitude towards a misuse of taxpayers’ money. She was the enterprise and development minister when Fás was squandering taxpayers’ money, and she personally benefited from an aspect of the abuse. That is the ultimate scandal.

Public servants are squandering public money and this is an endemic part of the wastage. Ministers should be affording the proper example, rather than facilitating the abuse.

Then Education Minister, Ms Hanafin, accepted a gift of a glass barometer for which Fás paid $437. Maybe she did not know who paid for the gift, but ministers should not accept such gifts when they do not know who paid for them.

Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael declared it was untenable not only that Ms Harney received “beauty treatment” at the taxpayers’ expense, but also that she withheld the information from the Dáil for four days this week. On Tuesday when Enda Kenny questioned the Taoiseach in the Dáil, she was sitting beside him but said nothing about it.

The last time Fine Gael was in power, the then taoiseach John Bruton justified withholding information from the Dáil in May 1995 on the grounds that he was not asked the right question. The abuse of expenses should be above party politics.

People working in the private sector have to account for all the expenses they claim, and the requirements should be even more stringent when it comes to handling taxpayers’ money.

In the current difficult economic climate, some people’s wages are being frozen and others have been asked to take salary cuts, so the Government and the politicians should be leading by example in that regard. It is time that all expenses claimed against the public purse should be clearly vouched in a transparent manner.