Why John O'Donoghue is too expensive to keep
John O'Donoghue's website describes him as a man of commitment. But his commitment comes at a price, judging by his expenses claims.
It calls him someone with energy. And, indeed, he has shown energy in making foreign travel as luxurious an experience as possible for himself and his wife.
It says he has leadership qualities. As arts minister, he certainly led the way in junketeering.
It refers to him as far-sighted. But not so far-sighted as to avoid looking like someone with a taste for the high life -- especially when the taxpayer was picking up the tab.
He and Kate Ann, his wife, ran up a bill of almost €2,000 over two days in a five-star Parisian boutique hotel marketed as the epitome of refinement. And that was only one among a number of trips they took to fly the flag for Ireland. Lucky us, to have had such representatives abroad.
Many flattering adjectives about the Ceann Comhairle, a former solicitor, can be found on his website. But I see no evidence of the most appropriate one: self-indulgent.
His immoderate expenses, brought into the public domain by a freedom of information request from the 'Sunday Tribune', identify him as a supremely self-indulgent man. He believed in pampering himself.
How easy it is to be liberal when the bills are not your responsibility.
During his time in Arts, Sport and Tourism, he made extensive use of the government jet -- even using it to transport him to Kerry on official business.
Backed into a corner to defend him, the department managed a half-hearted: "Every effort is made to secure the best possible rates for ministers and their delegations."
In whose warped universe is €900 a night for hotel accommodation the best possible rate? That sentence should be rephrased as: "Every effort is made to secure the best for ministers and their delegations."
Obviously civil servants made the bookings on O'Donoghue's behalf. But wasn't he holding the department's reins and didn't he set the tone? Here's a thought: could his staff have booked only the finest because that was his known preference?
As opposition spokesman on justice (he later served as justice minister), O'Donoghue demanded zero tolerance for criminals. I say it is high time the Irish people expected zero tolerance for frivolous use of public funds.
O'Donoghue is a senior member of Fianna Fail, the Republican Party. Unless Fianna Fail distances itself from such junketeering, it should be renamed Fianna Fail, the Banana Republican Party.
Only a banana republic insists on ostentatious shows of self-importance for representatives abroad, with the ritziest hotels, limousines and restaurants.
If a senior Fianna Fail politician has been outed for such self-indulgence, how can a Fianna Fail-led government tell citizens to tighten their belts?
Because that's what we'll be hearing once the summer recess is over -- more levies, more taxes, more squeezing us till we squeak.
Even in 2006 and 2007 boom-time, the bling mentality -- large it up, plenty more moolah where that came from -- was just plain wrong. Take the case of his official's €120 hat rental for a London function. Doesn't this excessive figure encapsulate the cavalier attitude towards public funds?
Of course, ministers need to attend major events abroad occasionally. But how necessary is it for partners to tag along? Especially if their presence costs the State additional money?
There should be stricter guidelines for expenditure, with a limit on costs. I know plenty of people who have visited Venice but I don't know a soul who takes those exorbitant water taxis. It didn't deter O'Donoghue, though -- he showered €250 of our money on the drivers.
This man has single-handedly made the case for Colm McCarthy's recommendation to amalgamate the department he headed with another.
WE stand now at a crossroads. As citizens, are we prepared to shrug our shoulders about this blatant dissipation of public funds? We did it during the Tiger years and see what a pickle we are in.
O'Donoghue's silence on his prodigal spending is shameful: he ought to be apologising to the Irish people. Instead he is lying low, waiting for the dust to settle. We should not allow this to blow over.
He has to go. Simple as that. Cahirciveen's finest is unfit to be chairman of Dail Eireann. John O'Donoghue has squandered his moral authority along with taxpayers' money.
Meanwhile, the lack of outcry from other TDs is disquieting. His colleagues ought to be furious with him because his behaviour tars everyone. Unless it's a case of the pot being afraid to call the kettle black ...
But let me tell you what really bothers me. His official expenses are flagrant enough, but O'Donoghue has access to unvouched expenses.
Clearly, we will continue to be bled mercilessly by our political masters until radical reform to politicians' pay and perks is introduced. Above all, the system of undocumented expenses must be abandoned.
By all means, allow fair expenses, but let's have receipts and let's have their claims published annually. That ought to cut back on a penchant for hotels where the suites come with Turkish baths.
No doubt, after 22 years in the Dail, O'Donoghue thinks he has done the State some service. But his version of service does not come cheap, and we can no longer afford such high rollers. I'm not convinced we ever could.
He represents everything that is wrong with the governing system -- we don't just need a new government, we need a new breed of politician.
- MARTINA DEVLIN
