THE GOVERNMENT has been sharply criticised by Fianna Fáil for failing to deliver on pre-election promises by Fine Gael and Labour to reform the way in which people are appointed to State boards.
A review of Government appointments shows that at least 20 past or present party members, strategists or donors have been appointed to such posts since the Coalition came into office in March.
Half of all departments have yet to recruit board members through public advertisement, as promised by the Government, while only five departments have so far fully implemented the commitment to seek expressions of interest online.
In only two cases has a person appointed as chairman appeared before an Oireachtas committee, another Government pledge. But some hearings are pending and some departments have yet to appoint any chairmen.
Fianna Fáil TD Michael McGrath said it was clear the Government had not followed through on its commitments to introduce a transparent system of political appointments.
“Nothing has changed. The promised transformation hasn’t materialised,” said Mr McGrath, adding that as long as appointments were in the gift of politicians, “cronyism will remain”.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has made three appointments to the Road Safety Authority, where board members are paid €8,100 a year. Among his appointees are Ronan Melvin, who lives in the Minister’s constituency and nominated Fine Gael candidate Kieran Dennison in the 2009 local elections. Another choice is Seán Finan, a Macra na Feirme member from Castlerea, Co Roscommon and a regional organiser for Young Fine Gael.
Last month, Mr Varadkar appointed former Fine Gael minister Bernard Allen to the board of the Irish Sports Council. Mr Allen, who retired last February, was the country’s first sports minister in the 1990s and also chaired the Public Accounts Committee. He is not taking any fee for the post.
Last week, the Government appointed four new directors to Pobal, including Labour county councillor (and former Progressive Democrat TD) Mae Sexton and Siobhán McLoughlin, a former Labour election candidate from Co Donegal.
However, Ms Sexton said yesterday she was not in a position to take up the post.
In April, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney announced the appointment of Phil Meaney as chairman of Bord na gCon.
Mr Coveney said his choice was “eminently well-qualified” for the appointment, with a business background and a 25-year involvement in the greyhound industry.
Mr Meaney is chairman of Fine Gael’s electoral strategy group in Carlow-Kilkenny and played a major part in the party’s success in winning three seats in the constituency last February. As chairman, Mr Meaney is paid €21,600 a year plus expenses.
Mr Coveney has also appointed two people with party links to the board of Bord Bia. One is Brody Sweeney, the founder of O’Brien’s Sandwich bars which went into liquidation in 2009, who got 3,400 votes as a Fine Gael candidate in Dublin in the 2007 general election.
Another of Mr Coveney’s appointees is Gary Brown, chief executive of Below the Line Marketing, who donated €640 to Labour TD Ruairí Quinn in 2007.
Among those Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has appointed to the Parole Board is Ciairin de Buis, who has sat on a number of Labour Party committees. Ordinary members of the board are paid €7,695 a year plus a per diem payment for each prison visit up to a limit of €12,600, plus travel and other allowances at Civil Service rates.
There’s no remuneration for sitting on the board of the National Concert Hall but the list of names appointed by Minister for Arts Jimmy Deenihan includes Gina Menzies, a theologian and former Fine Gael county councillor; and Pat Heneghan, a public relations consultant and former party strategist.
Minister for Communications and Energy Pat Rabbitte has appointed former Labour treasurer James Wrynn to the board of An Post and Bride Rosney to the board of Eirgrid. Ms Rosney was adviser to president Mary Robinson, the party’s 1candidate for the presidency in 1990.
Some 14 of the special advisers appointed to Government ministers are also being paid above approved guidelines which state they should be paid on the first point of the principal office scale in the Civil Service, just over €80,000. Four of the advisers are earning over €100,000, according to figures provided by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin.