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THE CHAIRMAN OF the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said that in “seriously, exceptional circumstances” a case could be made that the State cover the costs of a minister’s spouse travelling with them.
John McGuinness was responding to questions from his own committee members in Leinster House this morning as the controversy over office, personnel and travel expenditure while he served as a junior trade minister in 2007 and 2008 was discussed for over two hours.
In an unusual move, McGuinness stepped aside as chair of the committee this morning to allow himself to be questioned by members about his views on overseas trade visits and whether he believed that the State should cover the costs of spouses travelling with ministers.
He said that in “serous, exceptional circumstances” there should be an arrangement for a minister to make a case to the Taoiseach for a spouse’s travel costs to be covered. “It could be do with illness, it could be to do with a bereavement,” he explained.
He admitted it was not acceptable in hindsight to argue the point in the way he did with a series of email exchanges with civil servants, saying: “Looking back on it now it was a different country then in 2007. What was accepted back then is not acceptable now and I accept that.”
The Fianna Fáil TD said he accepted the point that even if a minister offers to pay for their spouse, they cannot accompany the minister on a trade mission but that he was responding to a more general “philosophical discussion” and was “challenging old ways” and rules in relation to spouses travelling.
He said: “It was probably written with a little bit of frustration in it, maybe a little bit of anger in it. Maybe I was having a bad day and it wasn’t expressed, maybe, as it should have been.”
McGuinness later told the committee “it was a poorly presented opinion, but that’s all it was, an opinion,” he said, adding that he was not “the only minister that traveled with his wife abroad at that time.”
McGuinness disclosed that the State paid for his wife to travel with him on three occasions when he was a junior minister including to Seattle and Edinburgh on St Patrick’s Day – when it is tradition for spouses’ travel to be covered – and on another occasion to London.
McGuinness said he did not know the details of the trip to London, describing it as a “promotional” event, saying: “I can’t recall the trip to London”. Committee vice-chairman Kieran O’Donnell said it was “reasonable to expect this would come up” with McGuinness insisting he would get the information and provide it to the committee.
McGuinness said he had no “hand, act, or part” in the creation of his office in the Department of Enterprise at a cost of €250,000 when he became a Minister of State in 2007. He acknowledged that the cost of that office was excessive.
He said that overtime – amounting to over €30,000 – paid to his son working as his assistant was not signed off by him but said he was covering for maternity leave. He said the post vacated by a staff member going on maternity leave was not filled by an additional staff member.
McGuinness said it was “impossible” to know if more potentially damaging information would come out about him but said: “I can’t imagine that there’s much left”.
He insisted that the coverage of him in recent days has not “in any way negatively on the committee itself” and rejected a claim by Independent TD Shane Ross who told the deputy: “The McGuinness family seem to have done pretty well out of the State, out of the taxpayer.”
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I spent time in that hospital once. One of the nights a woman in her 90s was admitted to my ward. Her daughter pleaded for a private room but none was available. Turned out a perfectly healthy young offender spent the night in a private room under Garda escort as there was no room for him at the local young offenders institution.
I’m sure the staff tried their best to get a room or even a ward bed for that unfortunate man… but this is the reality of the ward bed shortages in our hospitals. As a nurse I can picture the scenario and the indignity this family has suffered. Is this the vision of palliative care that the HSE has?
This has nothing to do with staff trying their best. Everyone knows they do. This is about Varadkar and his predecessors failing us, failing those they are paid to represent. Varadkar is a multi millionaire out of politic already. Get him out!
Damien. Nurses are over worked and under paid,but still, you people always put the patient first and there’s no doubt the staff done all they could for this man. If nurses ran the HSE, we would all be better off.
Welcome to Fine Gael’s Ireland
Leo doesn’t do shame,he does deflection. It’s always someone else’s fault.
This is awful ,FG would describe it as embarrassing or possibly even as whinging ,time to roll out another ” concerned citizen ” or more photo ops for the armed Garda units .
FG do not want an improved health service. They want you to pay more for private health insurance by making you really scared to go to hospital. Simple. There all about privatisation. In FG land you are worthless if you are not well off.
How right you are
Do you think DOB would have bought into the Beacon if he didn’t smell a profit? Follow the money
Even with private insurance, nothing guaranteed. Dont be fooled. They money is going into the system and into the HSE except it is pen pushers and contractors benefitting from it, not patients or front line staff. The amount of health quangos doing sfa is shameful.
Yous all know what to do on Friday 26th and not let this scandal and disgraceful treatment of a fellow human being happen again.
i was i the only to see that leo was not interested ?
Like the election is 3 days away and you would think he would have being better prepared and put up a better fight
Tell us what to do Colin? What’s your altrrnative?
Embarrassed try Ashamed or even Disgusted. I’m sure Embarrassed isn’t a word this Mans Family would use to describe this unimaginable ordeal.
Minister Varadkar’s large salary and unvouched expenses should ease him through what must be a difficult time.
But where’s the usual excuse Leo, surely it was someone else’s fault? Hmmmm who can he blame this time? Perhaps whilst your contemplating on how embarrassed you actual are, you might consider the 78 year old lady interviewed on drive time last night. She has had her respite care for her 52 year old (yes 52 year old severely disabled daughter) whom she has looked after all these year’s removed without explanation other than cut backs. When questioned the HSE spin the usual crap about current care not being suitable (well sort it f£&king out ) absolutely scandalous and Leo continues to be embarrassed. As a doctor one would think he would have a slight clue but then again we thought the same of O Reilly.
My mam had to wait a long time on an ambulance the night she died. The crew were excellent but those precious minutes wasted because of depleted resources.
We can all thank the blueshirts, Liebour and the criminals off fianna fail for this…
But people still keep voting for them, like Turkeys voting for Xmas
Excuses will not bring this man back, no human should have to endure that and you can be rest assured the rich will not be lying on trollies…
Leo you are outright filth like the rest of your despicable party……..
Deepest sympathies to the family. So tragic to lose their father, but under such circumstances must be horrendously traumatic.
Personally having had to call emergency services out to my parents house for my father in the past few years you enter a realm of unimaginable anxiety.
There’s the initial stress and upset of witnessing a parent so ill, but then when you call the ambulance you’re terrified that it will not come as quickly as needed, as in this country’s that’s no longer a given. This is followed by the fear of when the ambulance finally reaches A&E how long will it be until the person is removed from the ambulance and when they are how long until they are finally seen by a doctor.
This has to change, in 2016 Ireland’s people deserve better.
His embarrassment & shame mean nothing. His incompetence, ineptitude & making a dreadful situation even worse will continue to affect us all for some time to come.
It’s an utter disgrace, action needs to be taken with our health service NOW!!!
There has been some new election posters put up of Leo around Dublin 15,Vote Leo for trust honesty etc,Moany drone has some with standing up for communities. And neither of them turned up for the debate last week in the Dublin 15 constituency.
Fvcking disgusting. If Verruca was in opposition he would be calling for someone’s head. He’s embarrassed and ashamed, well God bless him.
Journals Hugh very suportive of Leo on tv last night, suggestng that Leo just needed more time, wink wink nod nod and you did get a nod of approval from your buddy Leo. Very sad the blatant bias of the Irish media.
Hugh is yet another blueshirt in disguise waiting to feed from the trough….
I wonder how Blue Hughs attitude will change when his beloved party of filth is thrown out on sat at the counting
Fine Gael, what do you make of FF’s sudden surge in the polls? I reckon its all media BS myself.
Not embarrassed or saddened enough to resign
Fine Gael…A party to be proud of!!! Vote Fine Gael….WHY in your right mind would you vote for these neo-liberals who will further destroy social services?
Fine Gael elected again by people who dont know what a public hospital is . MR Varadkar’s job is to privitise the public hospitals that is what he is there for. Fianna Fail and Micheal Martin set up the money pit of HSE to feather their friends nest. Martin when asked about health spending in those years and where had the money gone went off on a tirade about the troubles. So reap what we sow but the core voters of both parties wont ever use a public hospital and people that will use it want to vote these two back into power. Absolutely daft .
Right as bad as the health service under the previous government was beds where still there for those, like this man who really needed it. This current government are a disgrace, Kenny, Leo, Joan all need to be voted out of office this week
Well done Paddy for bailing out the German banks. At least they have a health service worth funding. Time to bury Leo & his useless pals – not one transfer.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Germany
Billions in unsecured….UNSECURED bonds. Money more valuable than life.
“Embarrassed and ashamed” won’t bring him back or comfort the family.
soft on crime tough on health
Hold on – throw the drunks into a drink tank, let them take their chances, and prioritize the very ill. No shame Leo – bad policy by hospital. Condolences to the family
Was in A&E with a relative on Friday night just gone. I counted eight people under the influence of alcohol / drugs that needed treatment, just in one hour alone. Two very sick vomiting toddlers in the waiting room. A young baby with a high temp and vomiting whose dad was begging someone to help her, after being referred from Shannon Doc.
And once inside, so many mostly elderly, gravely ill people on trollies.
One old lady was given her last rites in the midst of chaos, bright lights and noise. It just made me cry.
A health service is no longer a right but a privelege it seems.
It definitely looks like it was the wisest decision to take our sick daughter out of here (A&E in Limerick) to native Poland. What ended up after 6 hours with “keep hydrated her at home” at the Irish A&E, turned out to become URGENT admission in Poznan, Poland. Ten days of hospitalization in total due to severe form of gastroenteritis. After 3 days we lost count of intravenous drips…
I’m afraid the truth is that there is no quality emergency medical care available in Limerick:-(
I’m sure his shame and embarrassment are a great comfort to that family. More empty words. What has happened to our country. The closer you look the worse it gets. Every day a new low is reached. Where will it end? It is deeply, deeply frightening.
Bollix, Leo! This wouldn’t happen in the UK or Germany or any other country with a proper health care system!
Stick your embarrassment and shame up your hole and DO something about it, you overpaid deluded fool!
The Health System needs reform and a total rehaul. This idiocy of a small shitty local hospital for every town in the country needs to end. We need fewer, but much larger top quality hospitals instead of dozens of local crap hospitals. Remote areas of the country should be covered by an air ambulance like in the rest of Europe and the UK.
When the system is so fundamentally broken, throwing more money at the problem isn’t going to be change anything when the system just eats up money with little to zero impact on results.
My sympathies to the family of this man. The only thing the HSE has to show from itself is a vastly increased budget yet worse outcomes. Something is seriously wrong and it’s not due to money.
Sorry but we need local hospitals for example in the North East people have to go to Drogheda from Cavan to get treatment, they closed the Louth Hospital and Navan… We need more hospitals and in every major town..Not one big dirt hole like Lourdes in Drogheda……….
Limerick has become completely overrun because of the closure of Ennis and Nenagh EDs. That is a big part of the overcrowding problem there.
Shameful, but I thought the headline was referring to Varadkar’s own grandfather.
If this is all Varadkar is capable of why is he being hailed as the next leader of FG ……and possibly this country ???? Shameful
This isn’t going to be popular.
We shouldn’t personalise this against Leo Varadkar. The health service is very difficult to fix. It’s very cheap to say Leo Varadkar should be ashamed of himself.
Hes the man in charge and he failed as per usual another incompetent moron, who had the tools to fix the health service but did not because mainly he was to busy talking shyte about other areas that had nothing to do with him or getting soundbites to tell everyone how he is queer and how great it is….
I’m surprised, but i find myself agreeing with you Tom, the whole system needs an overhaul, from the management level down, it’s far too top heavy, too many chiefs and no Indians
Cop on Tom if you were underperforming you would be sacked simple as. Leo is a waste of space. He will make a good FG Leader one day
Leo on Claire Byrne more or less said in a very nonchalant manner that sure nobody can really fix it ??????? If that’s your attitude get out. How much are government tds paid again.
Perhaps . But just how much is Varadkar being paid to wring his hands and say he’s embarrassed and its “terrible” ? Maybe you don’t care that his enormous salary is being paid by your taxes ….to do nothing …..but I care !!!
‘Poor experience’
Sounds like a low budget hotel manager.
Condolences to the man’s poor family.
This is third world healthcare at it’s worst, where corruption and wealth can get you treated while Joe public can die in a hospital corridor.
Another failed government compounds the poisoned chalice that is the health service. Varadkar, Martin and Harney should all be held accountable for this. The damage inflicted by successive incompetent health ministers is cumulative. Lip service is the only service we’ve received from these burdens to society. We will hopefully destroy #finegael #labour and #fiannafail in the coming election.
Fact is that they have been pumping billions into the health service for years, across various administrations and it still leaves a lot to be desired. There have been a few candidates who have suggested depoliticising the health portfolio and creating a cross party initiative to manage it. I would agree with this, its too important to be used as a political beating stock and, let’s be honest, its a poisoned chalice for whatever minister is unfortunate enough to manage it (which is one of the reasons I admire those who volunteered to take on a doomed role)
Nobody was expecting Varadker to turn it into a shining stanard bearer of global health systems. We just thought maybe they could open a few bed and possibly stoo people dying on trollies like some kind of war zone. You should be ashamed Varadker not embaressed.
the two tier system contributes to the mess in that in many areas in ireland you have a public and private hospital located in the same compound. Madness, a doubling of the services required within a 300m2 area. No wonder the health system cost in ireland is one of the highest in the oecd countries. One thing that really shocked from last night was Leo’s inference that he cant follow the health system expenditure paper trail. That the system isnt properly digitalised?? How can this happen in a country that is the central emea hub for amazon cloud technology, google, microsoft, facebook, twitter etc etc It beggars belief!!
You just know Varadkar was sitting on Claire Byrne thinking “F##k you James Reilly I am dealing with your crap”
My own mother died on a trolley she was 71 fell down stairs broke her leg and they weren’t sure if she also broke her hip she lay on a trolley from 18th March till she died on 21st march in Connelly hospital 2013 no explanation why she died or why she was left on trolley no apologies from anyone Leo won’t be getting my vote as he is in my area which we have never seen him
Leo is an idiot.
he cant fix it in a year and half. He took over in july 2014. Not long enough to make an impact on something as broken as this in fairness. My guess is Enda purposely put him into health as he knew he would fail to make an impact and hence reduce his leadership threat.
The only thing that changes in health is the minister Every thing stays the same like ques, front line staff under pressures and poor pay, budget over runs etc etc Another government and failure
No Minister has to sit in A&E waiting for hours to be treated, or lie on a trolley in a noisy corridor with no privacy. No beds in hospitals for sick people is the sickest joke of all.
Can anyone remember a time when we had a universally liked Health minister? No, me neither.
Varadkar should resign, go away.this is terrible.
A bit late now Leo.
Here is a thought… How about banning alcohol altogether in Ireland, or simply, if you come drunk to hospital you get to share a nice room with concrete walls and floor with the rest of the drunkards, so that REAL patients in need of REAL medical attention can be attended to properly?
Embarrassed and ashamed… do something about it!
They can bail out banks, bankers, bondholders and hedge funds but not look after hospitals, does that not tell people who they are then???
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