Minister for the Environment John Gormley has said the board of Fás should resign following a damning report by the Comptroller and Auditor General on expenditure controls at the agency.
“The public are concerned about the level of wastage that has occurred. It’s not acceptable … and in my view they should consider their positions.”
FÁS spent €600,000 of our money on a TV advert that never aired. €600,000. This comes after the scandal involving Rody Molloy and his ‘entitlement’ to credit cards, fine dining, first class travel and fuck knows what else. Remember, Molloy only resigned after a public backlash. Even when the story emerged he felt he’d done nothing that warranted his resignation.
There was, probably still is, a culture of waste in FÁS and I’ve heard various whispers that the €600,000 business is far from exceptional. That if someone were to look really closely at what’s going on in there they’d discover all kinds of stuff involving media, advertising, how much FÁS paid for it and so on.
Yet when Molloy resigned, reluctantly, not one of the other board members who sat back and sanctioned that kind of spending of our money thought they were in any way responsible. No doubt they all had their little perks too, you see, and if the man at the top falls then it takes the spotlight off them.
Here’s the thing. Do not wait for them to ‘consider their position’ because they’ll consider it, possibly, and then think ‘Why am I even considering this? I have done nothing wrong’. Stop pussying around and fire them. All of them. The whole board need to be accountable for their action or lack of action.
However, accountability is the key thing here. If you or I look in a dictionary this is what we see:
However, a politician or senior public servant sees this:
That they’re being urged to ‘consider their positions’ is ludicrous. That a criminal investigation is not underway into the waste of €600,000 is a scandal. But then this is a country where we can waste tens of millions on e-voting machines while the cost of simply string them is close to €1m per annum. Here’s an idea, just set the fucking things on fire and be done with it.
Every single board member of FÁS needs to be turfed out on their ear and all of their spending and expenses examined closely. FÁS needs an Eliot Ness. Fuck it, the whole country needs an Eliot Ness but we’ve got to start somewhere.
And accountability has to become more than a buzz word. If I hear one more politician or talking head bleat about the need for it or their other favourite, ‘transparency’, without actually doing anything about it, I will scream.
Did you hear Lenihan on the radio yesterday talking about TDs expenses? Trying to justify them yet when it was suggested a system of vouched expenses be introduced he hummed and hawed and said ‘Yeah, maybe, if it wasn’t too cumbersome and/or time consuming’ for the TDs (I’m paraphrasing him slightly).
Time consuming? FUCK YOU. We have a right to know how you’re spending our money and if you have to stay up late at night to finish your homework then tough fucking shit. You get paid more than politicians in any other country, practically, now it’s time to show how you ‘earn’ that money.
Yet when the man at the top won’t address the problem what can do? Other than speak when it comes time to vote, not e-vote of course, but with ‘stupid old pencils’ and hope the next cunt does something about it.
Honestly, bar one or two, the country would be a lot better off if a bomb went off in Dail Eireann. Although that’s supposing you could actually manage to get all of the cunts there at the same time?
What time is it? 10.20am on a Friday. I need a drink now.
I have even worse tales (first hand) of admin excess and incompetence at FAS that would give you a cranial prolapse. But don’t worry, it only affects the little people that FAS was set up to help.
As regards TD expenses and jobbery every person/positon they employ on the public purse should be by open competition. No more the missus being the secretary, the brother being the driver etc etc etc
Aye, why spend money on helping people when you can enjoy a €6,000 flight to the US on a comfy bed with food, drink and everything else? It’s your right, after all.
They’re all at it though, Conan. Like the Fine Gael married couple, Olwyn Enright and Joe McHugh claiming separate overnight expenses.
Love it when you go all radical on us ! Che or Castro Major ?
CheCastroPolPot Major
First five to disappear in the new regime ?
Five people of five groups of people?
seen this ?
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0911/1224254269472.html?via=mr
The five individuals you would most like to Sinn Féin, dorry, disappear ?
Bertie
Harney
Cowen
Willie O’Dea
Colin Coyle
Gloria Hunniford, James Nesbitt (who upset Kate Moss by being Vulgar) and Colin Murray would head my list.
Poor Pol Pot – he had such terrible press – should have used Max Clifford!
Fun and games in South Africa – been leaked that Semenya is intergender – I’d like to see Ronaldo tested.
Twenty, you are so right. But what about the €620,000 in undocumented spending? If the money is unaccounted for, then it’s theft, plain and simple and should be subject to a criminal investigation.
For Community Employment Schemes financed through FAS, every penny of their abysmal grants had to be accounted for, often resulting in at least 10% of a schemes total budget being spent on accounting fees.
Shame they didn’t demand the same stringent standards from themselves.
They are cunts and they are criminals and those, like Coughlan who shield them, should be jailed for aiding and abetting.
What happened with FAS was this:
The guy running the ad agency was a FF member. He got the FAS account as a result his political connection. He would deny it but the fat cunt would be lying to you. The FAS guy took kick backs. The more he spent the more he made for himself. He was wined and dined all the time which was paid for by the agency and as a result, charged back to FAS. So we paid for it.
It’s a simple case of Fianna Fail scumbags using the wealth of the state to line their own pockets. In any other country, they’d be jailed for a long time.
Semenya intergender? She is in her bollix.
with a name like Semenya ……
You’re right Holemaster. When I worked for an advertising paper, the only agency that didn’t tried to get a rate reduction was the one placing FAS ads. I thought that was deeply suspicious at the time.
And another example of FAS not ensuring value for taxpayers money.
Yep Samoan. Everyone knew it at the time. The waste of money was incredible.
HM – http://www.independent.ie/national-news/fas-executive-craig-wont-appear-before-spending-watchdog-1576253.html
Interesting that the Comptroller and Auditor General decides to release this report the day after the damning FAS one:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0911/breaking31.htm
It says that the €448m buyout of the NTR owned Westlink toll bridge was good value for money. My fucking bollocks it was. The whole thing was a disaster for the state. It turned the M50 into a non functioning motorway and it turned the Roche family (Cement Roadstone) into billionaires.
Answer me this: How come we had to pay tolls for the building of a bridge while in other cases we’re paying tolls for the building of entire motorways?
Well the M50 was a huge scam. If a large portion of the money NTR made wasn’t channelled back into FF or directly to certain politicians I’d be amazed.
Twenty, that’s the culprit alright. But he’s only one of the fuckers.
All this voting the bad out and even worse in !
lads its ingrained in the psychology of the nation ..
what clinical psychologists call “learned helplessness”
have a read here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness
…hmm ring any bells
A Stockholm Sydrome type thing.
HM – yeah, one of many.
Maybe a mass junket to my “aquintances” Rollerskate,Ball Bearing,Glue and Cocaine Factory could be arrange.
It would look like an accident,a hilarious accident and any survivor’s reputaions would be destroyed with the cocaine association…
Im in a funny mood today…
The problem is and Iv said this many times over the years, democracy only happens on polling day.As soon as these crooks get elected they think they have a right to plunder the taxpayers money.
Fill, might be an idea.
Get Smart – the trouble is that until we make an example of somebody and show them that the kind of thievery and skullduggery they engage in won’t be tolerated any longer then nothing will change.
There’s fuck all punishment for white collar crime in this country.
I reckon the Westies should run the gaff. They’re great at making money and if you don’t pay your due, they “fuckin’ do ya”.
Am I right in thinking that the silence from the Church is deafening ? Too busy worrying about gay marriage ?
What has the church got to do with any of it? I think they’re keeping their heads down at the moment. Nobody cares what they have to say.
Sweary – what if you don’t pay your Jew?
I thought the Westies were proppin up a patio in Santa Ponsa?
self-proclaimed guardians of morality Twenty – but only when they can pot the boot into the plebs.
I think we need to get past this culture of blame to find a real solution to our economic situation, going forward. We need to get past the wagging fingers and the recriminations to get this country back to where oh just fucking kill me now.
Hmm..a bomb you say..interesting. I’m off now to..do stuff.
Radge, I think you’re a FF stooge. The use of the phrase going forward
is a dead giveaway.
That’s another great politicians line.
“The time has passed for finger pointing and blame. We have to think about what’s best for the country”.
Fuck off, it’s all your fault. Of course we can finger point and blame.
Fuck all this, here is a slagging match between Chris de Burg and an Irish Times critic that will cheer you up
chris has a hissy fit
Waaa ha ha ha ha…
http://tinyurl.com/nyeq3k
First time I’ve felt sorry for Chris deBurgh, the shortarse.
And here is one for smokers from culch.ie
surgeon generals warning
I was on a fas course, which was held outside of the training centre, so we all got a meal allounce of 80 CENT a day.
a total of 4 euro a week if you did’nt miss any day, if you did you were docked for it.
Since Autumn of last year every two-bit paper-pusher in FAS has been frantically trying to justify their employment for fear the agency would be hit with massive cuts. The result has been an excess of administration over action, eg a form might have to be processed through three different offices and decisions circulated back to the frontline a couple of weeks later.
Appointing a civil servant to replace Rody (Harney’s pal) Molloy was counter productive, it has degenerated into 99% about protecting the institution and 1% about serving the citizen.
protecting the institution and 1% about serving the citizen.
There’s obviously a lot to clean up/sweep under the carpet.
Well that’s one way to make Friday less shit, nice rant!
“There’s obviously a lot to clean up/sweep under the carpet”
There’s a €1billion budget to be defended and if there arfe major cuts you better believe that services will be hit well before hundreds of staff are made redundant.
Cheers, Dino.
That’s exactly it, Conan. Eliot Ness where are you? Of course if he did arrive he’d be whacked within days.
Anyone going to the march tomorrow??
It’s Sept 19th, FMC – http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/call-for-mass-protest-against-nama-425752.html
Did you go for that drink?
Geldof had it right – banana republic.
Its barricades and Molotov cocktails or nothing will change.
Ah! Even better!
That’s another great politicians line.
“The time has passed for finger pointing and blame. We have to think about what’s best for the country”.
Fuck off, it’s all your fault. Of course we can finger point and blame.
But that is all you wasters ever do!!! Blame everyone and everything for your own wallow-pit. The rest of us got out and made something of ourselves. Who in hell do you THINK is to blame for your present circumstances?????
oh yeah – if it’s not the government that you freely elect I suppose it’s got to be the Brits….
Personally I blame you.
We found him!…Gluaistean done it…
He’s back – Twenty will be pleased.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0912/breaking10.htm
MOI!!!??….I’M HURT, TWENTY!!!