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MOST JOURNALISTS ARE well used to government departments stone-walling them.
Questions – unless backed up by solid proof in the form of documents or other evidence – are routinely swatted away or answered with often lengthy responses that strive to give away as little as is humanly possible.
What rarely happens however, is for a government department to blatantly lie.
Regina Doherty’s allowance
Back in March, I wrote a story about the very dubious process whereby the government created a new allowance for Regina Doherty after she was appointed as government chief whip and as a “super” Junior Minister.
At the time, the law only allowed for two ministers to be paid this €15,829 allowance but because of the way the new government was formed, three people were now effectively entitled to it. The simple thing would have been to change the law but the government knew that would have been a public relations disaster.
Fast forward three months and Labour’s Brendan Howlin raised in the Dáil the fact that this allowance may not have been legal either. He said the law was “crystal clear” and that no extra allowance could be paid to Doherty for her additional duties as government chief whip.
The story faded
The government said they would investigate but within a few weeks, the matter faded – like many other political stories in summertime – into the background.
Because of my original story, the outcome of this still fascinated me and I submitted an FOI request to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to see what was happening behind closed doors. The FOI request was answered properly and from the response, what was clear was that the government had gone to the Attorney General for advice on what to do next.
I sent a follow-up press query to the Department on 14 August asking what the outcome had been and asked specifically “whether Doherty was or was not entitled to the double allowance”.
A day later, they responded to say they had received advice from the Attorney General and that the matter was under consideration.
“That advice was recently received by the Department and is now being considered,” they said. “The matter will be dealt with in due course.”
That simply wasn’t true.
Allowance had been illegal
In fact, at least two weeks earlier the Department had already conceded that the allowance had been illegal. They had already written a letter to Regina Doherty’s Department to ask them how they were going to recoup the money from the Minister.
That letter to the Department of Social Protection, dated 26 July, said: “It is understood that Minister Doherty is aware of the situation and is agreeable to the repayment.”
Yet instead of admitting the matter had been resolved, the Department of Public Expenditure decided they were going to withhold the information.
An email from Minister Paschal Donohoe’s special adviser on 14 August to the Departmental press office said: “Sit tight on this for now.”
The response they sent to me insisted no decision had been made and another internal email said that if I were to come back looking for further information, I was to be told that they were not “going to comment further”.
Government more interested in public image
Fortunately, these documents came into the public domain this weekend in a story written by Hugh O’Connell of the Sunday Business Post. They illustrate yet again a government who seem more concerned with managing their public image than they are with almost anything else.
Journalists do not have high expectations when they deal with government departments in Ireland; they expect little and they often get less. However, at the very minimum they should expect the truth and the Department of Public Expenditure has crossed a line here.
Ministers and politicians look for accuracy from the media, and are quick to point out our mistakes. They have an obligation to the people who elected them, and to every taxpayer, to be open and transparent about how they spend public money.
From the documents, it appears that Minister Paschal Donohoe was at the very least aware of how the Department planned to approach this. He was one of the recipients of the email saying the Department should say nothing further if asked more questions about repayment of the allowance.
Labour TD Alan Kelly has already called for a statement from Minister Donohoe explaining the dishonesty in their reply. That is the least the public and media deserve.
Ken Foxe is a journalism lecturer in Dublin Institute of Technology and a freelance reporter.
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Any chance of some balanced journalism and report on the siege by Turkey and its head hacking allies in Afrin?
Indiscriminate bombing? Check
Civilians being massacred? Check
Lots of kids being blown to bits? Check
Maybe it’s too real and the status quo is afraid Call it for what it is, 100 years since the Greek and Armenian genocide, the Turkish establishment haven’t lost their Mongol slaying instincts
@Chicinho Hear Hear!!! But balanced journalism doesnt fit the US led Neoliberal western agenda..
@Nigel O’Neill: It’s actually a Neo-con agenda being delivered by neo- lib reporters who are owned by Neo- cons. You couldn’t make it up.
@Chicinho: The lack of media coverage of what’s going on in Afrin is disgraceful. It’s been under bombardment for weeks now, and has had no water for over a week since Turkey shut of supply from a nearby dam and treatment plant. All we hear in MSM is Turkey’s version of events. And it’s not like the US are nowhere to be seen as their allies are slaughtered. They are actually watching from a few Km’s away and not lifting a finger to intervene. Disgusting.
@Chicinho: Not to mention Zionist Israel getting the US to fight a proxy regime change war to install a puppet president. The UN previously recognized Assad’s Syria until Israel and the US decided he should go. Putin is no saint but I’m glad he stuck in there because otherwise they would have establish anew front in Iran and that would not be nice for anyone.
@JimmyMc:
Don’t forget Fake News RTE.
Goal are really taking sides in this complex 6 year civil war….Seeing things from the Sunni Jahadi side…..Many of the 400000 civilians in Ghouta don’t support the Sunni Jahadi and wish they would take up the offer from Syrian army to surrender and safe passage to another rebel held area to fight on…..Saudi Arabia and Qatar have armed and trained many of these rebels in Saudi proxy war against Iran…..Whatever about been democratic moderate rebels at start of conflict as John Kerry and Joe Biden called them….For many years they are Sunni Jahadi similiar to IS…..Very wrong of Goal to support them…
@John003: well said
@Jamie Thornton: ‘Sunni jihadists similar to IS’. and backed by the US of course. why can’t journalists report it like it is? because they are owned by corporate greed who have no concept of people suffering.
The official policy of the west – ‘Regime change’ for Syria has been stymied by Russian military intervention. This policy of Regime change, has involved Britain, the Us and and their allies arming and promoting ‘ moderate rebels’ to destabilize the Syrian Government and destroy the country and it’s people. These moderate rebels are terrorists. The west, for all it’s talk of freedom and Liberty and morality, has descended into a pit of double standards, lies and murder. Everyone who has backed the west’s narrative is also in this pit of blood and shares responsibility – this includes the media here in Ireland and around the world esp. state propaganda outlets like RTE and the BBC.
It is no wonder there is huge anti Russian sentiment at the moment as they have ruined the complete destruction of Syria for western and Israeli geopolitical goals.
@raymond grehan: This is not in interest of Israel ….Obama administration did train and arm the rebels in early days of conflict….It was in Jordan not Israel….This Syrian civil war has been a disaster for Israel …. Iran’s proxy army are now on their border with Syria as well as in Lebonan….Israel are close to the Druse in Syria who support Assad….Jews are not stupid supporting a Sunni Jahadi takeover of Syria with one of the main groups Al Nusra in charge would be disaster for Isreal….One of the few things Sunni and Shia agree on is destruction of Israel….Only group Israel support are the Kurds in Northern Syria….
@raymond grehan: well said
@Raymond well said and to add also that this is in Black n white, its not a conspiracy theory. Go check out the white paper named ‘Project for the new American Century’..it tells you all you need.
Sounds like another Whitehelmet story.
work is going well to cleans the Islamic terrorism when you here this propaganda.
@Jamie Exactly. Have you ever wondered why there are none such articles with inside stories from people in Yemen ?? They have been under constant bombardment by US backed Saudi forces for months and months now and theres a humanitarian crisis underway. I recall a funeral of a family member killed by a dropped bomb and then they blew up the funeral home while all the mourners were there, as one example
@Nigel O’Neill: I know nigel its a sad state of affairs in Yemen at the moment and will be for a long time as long as the UK USA are backing the slaughter.
@Nigel O’Neill:
May and the British have blood on their hands. They are arming the Saudi killers.
That’s why I can’t take their self-righteousness about the Rusian guy seriously.
In the future the world should look back in shame on events in Syria, which were utterly preventable.
@Walt the events are awful but whi exactly should be ashamed for what exactly?
@Nigel O’Neill: the apathy
@Walt Jabsco:
Yes because getting involved in regime change has work out so well in the past.. #Iraq
@Walt Jabsco: don’t know what to believe anymore. The American paid “rebels” fight on, and the Syrian government drops bombs. I’m sure it’s awful, but the dripfed white-helmet type nonsense doesn’t get attention anymore. No Twitter in Yemen it seems.
These people are trying to drag us into their war. If they want to stop the violence, they should call on their jihadi buddies to leave Ghouta, and to set the civilian population there free.
I’m sick of all the chancers that have spring up–Whiite Helmets etc. A few months back I saw video of the White Helmets (they took off the helmets) cutting off the head of a Palestinian kid. I have no sympathy for them now.
Goal are an extension of the US foreign policy nexus…always have been.
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