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Ken O'Flynn speaking in the Dáil recently

TD Ken O’Flynn says he didn’t know La-Z-Boy was a brand and just wanted what ‘everyone else has’

Ken O’Flynn said he ended up being provided with an ‘old-school chair’.

INDEPENDENT IRELAND TD Ken O’Flynn has said he was unaware that La-Z-Boy was a “brand” and that he just requested what “everyone else is provided with”.

In an email in mid-February to the Leinster House facilities management, O’Flynn looked for ten separate items for his parliamentary office to “enhance the workspace’s comfort and functionality.”

That included a La-Z-Boy recliner as “comfortable seating” for use during break periods and office meetings – such seats often retail at well over €1,000.

However, in an interview on the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s RedFM, O’Flynn said he didn’t know where the €1,000 price tag came from.

When it was noted by host Prendeville that La-Z-Boy chairs are routinely priced in excess of €1,000, O’Flynn said he was unaware that La-Z-Boy was a brand and that he thought the term referred to a style of chair. 

O’Flynn said he “didn’t realise they were a brand and I just thought it was the name of the chair”.

He added that he uses the term “La-Z-Boy” for a style of chair that “goes back slightly” and that there is “no footrest” on the chair.

Meanwhile, O’Flynn had been at loggerheads with Oireachtas management over delays in getting his office fitted out since he was elected.

He told RedFM that he “was assigned an office in the engineering block, which is outside Leinster House”.

“When I went into an office, there was a table but no chairs, no shelves, there were empty paint cans in the middle of the floor, a big stain on the carpet, and not even a chair for me to sit down at the computer”. 

He added that he and his staff were “waiting six weeks for a laptop to be provided”.

“I wrote to the facilities manager and said, ‘please, can I have some furniture? Could you take out the rubbish that was left from the previous occupant and could you provide furniture?’”

O’Flynn said it took six months for him to be assigned an office inside Leinster House and that he was working out of Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins’s office “on part of his desk”.

The Independent Ireland TD had had frosty relations with the Oireachtas since his appointment and in January accused them of a “disregard for the dignity” of his office in a row over lengthy delays in the fit-out of his office.

He told RedFM that he “looked around at what every Senator and TD has” and that the offices contained what O’Flynn described as a “La-Z-Boy”.

“I requested the exact same furniture that’s inside every other TD’s office.

“It’s a bit misleading to say that I requested a €1,000 chair, I requested a chair to come out of the stockroom where they have chairs but they’re out of them.”

In response to his request in mid-February, the Oireachtas said they had no recliners in stock and that they were not “commonly purchased”.

When asked if his request “flies in the face” of previous criticisms of government spending, O’Flynn said he just “asked them to take a chair out of the stockroom that they have, that everyone else is provided with”. 

“I haven’t asked for designer wallpaper or floor-to-ceiling mirrors,” said O’Flynn in reference to requests that had been made by other TDs.

“I am just asking to have a proper office after six months of not having an office,” said O’Flynn, “and an exhausting amount of emails back and forth about where the office is going to be.

“I don’t think I asked for anything extraordinary or marvelous, I think it has been blown out of proportion by certain members of the media.

“They’re a normal chair, it’s just that the back of it goes back.”

O’Flynn said he ended up being provided with an “old-school chair”.

-With additional reporting from Ken Foxe

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    Mute Anthony Hilton
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:40 PM

    When will people realise that the government don’t care about the people

    154
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    Mute Larsen Cib
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:45 PM

    @Anthony Hilton: why not? Leonardo and Martin said thank you didnt they?
    Now you can store a big thank you in your fridge and pay for your transport to work.

    Just let them know that you are paying with the governments ” thank you “

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    Mute Colm OS
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    Aug 16th 2021, 4:52 PM

    Without doubt Healthcare workers deserve recognition and reward but it wasn’t just Healthcare workers who put themselves at risk. All the supermarket, pharmacy and non hse Healthcare staff (as a few examples) all took on risk which they deserve to be rewarded for

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    Mute Niamh Hughes
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    Aug 16th 2021, 11:57 PM

    @Colm OS: Dunnes stores employees got a 10% raise and a 20% discount card for their shopping. I stand to be corrected but I also think Tesco rewarded their employees too. Healthcare workers got a round of applause.

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    Mute John Fagan
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    Aug 16th 2021, 5:10 PM

    The problem with this is that if you give to one in the union, you have to give it to the lot of them. This includes managers who sat at home during the pandemic, administration staff who worked from home and people who just didn’t bother coming in because they didn’t want to catch covid. Plus the fact that every other public servant will want it. Who decides who deserves it?

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    Mute Niall Lee
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    Aug 16th 2021, 5:22 PM

    @John Fagan: every single one of them

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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:51 PM

    These unions need separation from influence of government, if they are unhappy, go to LRC or labour court for each law broken if any. The days of ministers showing up at conventions also need to stop. The unions have never helped to fix the issues and it’s amazing how many pay rises fix the issues in the HSE

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    Mute GrumpyAulFella
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    Aug 16th 2021, 3:40 PM

    The demand doesn’t seem to be very clear. Are the unions looking for compensation for all workers in the health sector, front line workers or what exactly? How many staff are they seeking compensation for? The HSE employees about 70,000 alone, throw in all the voluntary hospitals, care workers…. They must be able to put a number on it.

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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Aug 16th 2021, 4:10 PM

    Leo will give them around of applause…

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    Mute Ian Breathnach
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    Aug 16th 2021, 9:01 PM

    @Derek Moean: he’ll give them a pay rise, then claim he too is a Doctor and take said pay rise himself.

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    Mute Margaret Kane
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    Aug 17th 2021, 12:34 PM

    TDs certainly don’t suffer hardships they’ve no problems robbing the taxpayers money to give themselves big rises

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