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THERE’S NO SUCH thing as a free lunch – or a free think-in, as Fianna Fáil members have been asked to pay for their accommodation while attending the party conference, which begins today.
Members of the party received a letter in August informing them that there was no alternative but to ask members to pay directly for their hotel bed and breakfast when they attend the two-day conference.
However a Fianna Fáil press spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that not all of the 35 TDs, senators and MEPs who attend will need accommodation as some already have homes in or near Dublin.
The party’s debt currently stands at €2.4 million.
The spokesperson said that people were “certainly happy” to pay for accommodation as they understand the party’s financial situation.
The conference will take place at the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, in Dublin.
As expected, a number of financial issues will be on the agenda at the think-in, which takes place ahead of the Autumn Dáil session.
Party leader Micheál Martin said:
There is a significant focus on the social impact of the recession at this year’s Parliamentary Party meeting. Issues such as fairness, debt sustainability for families and the personal and social impact of unemployment will all be discussed in detail.
The first session will focus on the economy, examining ways to safeguard the progress that we made in stabilising the public finances and reducing the deficit while continuing to protect key areas of social spending. The work from the Parliamentary Party meeting will feed into the policy renewal process that is being launched around the country.
The think-in will include a number of workshops, including one on Coping with Recession – A Social Perspective, chaired by Barry Cowen TD, and The Economy – Safeguarding Progress, chaired by Michael McGrath TD.
Willie O’Dea TD will lead the group through a session on jobs and competitiveness.
Meanwhile, it is a year to the week since former Taoiseach Brian Cowen had to deny being hungover during an early-morning radio interview following the conference in Galway.
yeah right they’ll pay…in 5 years time it’ll come out that they submitted expenses and it was paid for by us…so don’t try and bullsh*t us anymore….
Just as well John O’Donoghue has retired. The poor man would have taken a turn if he had to pay for his own stay.
Oh yeah, austerity kicks in when the party isn’t too flush but when the country was in the shit…
Drink in re-union?
My heart bleeds for them
Dear Mr. Kenny
Please find below my suggestion for fixing the Irish economy.
Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.
You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:
There are about 400 thousand people over 50 in the work force.
Pay them a £1 million each severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:
1) They MUST retire. 400 thousand job openings – unemployment fixed
2) They MUST buy a new car. 400 thousand cars ordered – Car Industry fixed
3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed
4) They MUST send their kids to school/college/university – Crime rate fixed
5) They MUST buy €100 WORTH of alcohol/tobacco a week …..
And there’s your money back in duty/tax etc
It can’t get any easier than that!
P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of the Dail pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances
Also;
Let’s put the pensioners in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.
This way the pensioners would have access to showers, hobbies and walks.
They’d receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc and they’d receive money instead of paying it out.
They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.
Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.
A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell.
They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.
They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool and education.
Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJ’s and legal aid would be free, on request.
Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.
Each senior could have a PC a TV radio and daily phone calls.
There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.
The criminals would get cold food, be left all alone and unsupervised…
Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week. Live in a tiny room and pay €600 per week and have no hope of ever getting out.
Think about this (more points of contention):
COWS
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that during the mad cow epidemic our government could track a single cow, born in Mayo
almost three years ago, right to the stall where she slept….. and, they even tracked her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 125,000 illegal immigrants wandering around our country.
Maybe we should give each of them a cow.
Very good, very good indeed – I’ll vote for you!
Brilliant!!!
Brilliant! You have my vote if you ever run for public office.
They’ll pay on the day but I have no doubt that they’ll fiddle their expenses in another way, they’ll claim extra mileage. For FF’ers it is a point of principle to take everything that they can get off the Irish people.
As for it be an interesting conference, it will be 19 old men, sitting down trying to be controlled by Martin, whom they blatantly have no respect for
I find this new found concern from FF for the little guy , for fairness and accountability to be quiet disturbing. It is so contrived.
At least Cowen will not be shaming his country again, although I presume that he’ll have a feed of drink on the night, and end up sloshed in the snug, peeing himself in the corner of the bar. What an inspiration he is.
The FFers can afford it — they signed away our future and cheated our children out of better education etc, when they signed teh croke park agreement to give truck loads of money to teh civil servents on retirement when the UK ministers are increasing the retirement age to 67 — real FF thieves and robbers all of them.
Those civil servents and TD’s will probably avoid tax to hell with the country and it people.
This is what will really finish off FF.
After 14 years of Mercs, perks, and hotel rooms that cost 2k a night on foreign affairs trips, they won’t be cut out for cold sausages in Tallaght.
Morale must be rock bottom this morning in the PP.
Add in the Mahon report coming in this month and that they along with the Christian Solidarity Party and the Natural Law Party are not running in the Presidential election. I wonder will the mysterious M.Martin who met a developer in a car park with Bertie Ahern be discovered as well, as FF pointed out it is not Micheal so who can it be.
Like any other crime gang that has their faces plastered over the papers, and are being closely watched, the FF’ers must be really feeling the heat.
Should be an interesting conference !
The views of the resigned German ECB official are quite stark regarding the upcoming budget and give food for thought in any deliberations considering the social impact of his opinions He is more or less saying that we still need to reduce wages etc saying that we on top of then league in social welfare and wages in Europe.
Maybe they could get the redundant ‘Galway tent’ and put them all in there for the duration of their drink-in (oops think-in). Anyway, most of the F/FAILers attending will be councillors, TD’s, senators and you can bet your last penny they WILL be CLAIMING EXPENSES for accommodation, food and travel incurred because as usual they will see it as their ‘ENTITLEMENTS’ to make such claims so, don’t worry tax payers you will get to fund their jolly as is always the case when the FF circus comes to town! Roll up, roll up see the biggest freak show this side of the tea party and the catholic church!
I live there. I wish I wasn’t in Wexford on business… This would have been a perfect cream pie opportunity!
I wouldn’t waste the cream. a farmer didn’t get up at all hours in the morn tend to his cows to produce that cream just to waste it on those FF Aholes!!!!!! Plus you’d be giving them relevancy that they don’t deserve.
Why does he always look like he’s about to start crying?
its a pity these Bastards wont give us back the cash they stole from the irish people ,its still our money they are using
Headline is a little confusing. The Attendees may well be using their own credit cards for their accommodation but the receipts will be processed as legitimate expenses as they would for any other away from home stay. In fact the tax payer is definitively paying for this meeting this year as the expenses will come in through the Oireachtas for payment where as last year the Fianna Fail party would have block booked the hotel and paid the tab through their head office and it may well have been paid for by political donations and the like
Denis. I can guarantee you that last year was paid for by the taxpayer, donations in FF are traditionally put to other uses.
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